Journal
SMALL
Volume 17, Issue 33, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202102219
Keywords
blastomere; differentiation; induced pluripotent stem cells; microfluidics; zona pellucida
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [NSF CBET1831019]
- National Institutes of Health [NIH R01EB023632]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study presents a biomimetic microencapsulation approach for isolating and culturing high-quality human iPSCs, resulting in pluripotent iPSC spheroids with significantly improved quality. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is identified as crucial for isolating high-quality iPSCs in the biomimetic core-shell microencapsulation culture, and the isolated iPSCs demonstrate high pluripotency even after being cultured again in 2D. These findings and the bioinspired culture method have potential benefits for advancing human iPSC-based personalized medicine.
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are ideal for developing personalized medicine. However, the spontaneous differentiation of human iPSCs under conventional 2D and 3D cultures results in significant heterogeneity and compromised quality. Therefore, a method for effectively isolating and expanding high-quality human iPSCs is critically needed. Here, a biomimetic microencapsulation approach for isolating and culturing high-quality human iPSCs is reported. This is inspired by the natural proliferation and development of blastomeres into early blastocyst where the early embryonic stem cells-containing core is enclosed in a semipermeable hydrogel shell known as the zona pellucida (Zona). Blastomere cluster-like human iPSC clusters are encapsulated in a miniaturized (approximate to 10 nanoliter) hyaluronic acid (HA)-rich core of microcapsules with a semipermeable Zona-like hydrogel shell and subsequently cultured to form pluripotent human iPSC spheroids with significantly improved quality. This is indicated by their high expression of pluripotency markers and highly efficient 3D cardiac differentiation. In particular, HA is found to be crucial for isolating the high-quality human iPSCs with the biomimetic core-shell microencapsulation culture. Interestingly, the isolated human iPSCs can maintain high pluripotency even after being cultured again in 2D. These discoveries and the bioinspired culture method may be valuable to facilitate the human iPSC-based personalized medicine.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available