Probing the pH Microenvironment of Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Cultures on Additive-Manufactured Scaffolds

Ivan Lorenzo Moldero, Anil Chandra, Marta Cavo, Carlos Mota, Dimitrios Kapsokalyvas, Giuseppe Gigli, Lorenzo Moroni*, Loretta L. del Mercato*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Despite numerous advances in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, monitoring the formation of tissue regeneration and its metabolic variations during culture is still a challenge and mostly limited to bulk volumetric assays. Here, a simple method of adding capsules-based optical sensors in cell-seeded 3D scaffolds is presented and the potential of these sensors to monitor the pH changes in space and time during cell growth is demonstrated. It is shown that the pH decreased over time in the 3D scaffolds, with a more prominent decrease at the edges of the scaffolds. Moreover, the pH change is higher in 3D scaffolds compared to monolayered 2D cell cultures. The results suggest that this system, composed by capsules-based optical sensors and 3D scaffolds with predefined geometry and pore architecture network, can be a suitable platform for monitoring pH variations during 3D cell growth and tissue formation. This is particularly relevant for the investigation of 3D cellular microenvironment alterations occurring both during physiological processes, such as tissue regeneration, and pathological processes, such as cancer evolution.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2002258
Number of pages8
JournalSmall
Volume16
Issue number34
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2020

Keywords

  • 3D scaffolds
  • extracellular microenvironment
  • microparticles
  • pH mapping
  • tissue engineering
  • GRAPHENE QUANTUM DOTS
  • CARBON-DOTS
  • IN-VITRO
  • DISSOLVED-OXYGEN
  • EXTRACELLULAR PH
  • OPTICAL PH
  • LABEL-FREE
  • TISSUE
  • EMISSION
  • ACIDIFICATION

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