Author:
Li Quan,Qi Guangyan,Susan Sun Xiuzhi
Abstract
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) demonstrated great potential in basic research, disease modeling, drug development, cell therapeutics, and regenerative medicine, as various distinct somatic cell types such as hepatocytes can be derived from hiPSCs. However, highly efficient hiPSC to somatic cell differentiation has not yet been achieved because of various challenging problems, one of which is less-optimal culture methods for hiPSC expansion. Conventionally, hiPSCs have been cultured as monolayers on flat surfaces, usually resulting in unstable genetic integrity, reduced pluripotency, and spontaneous differentiation after numerous passages. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) spheroids of hiPSCs have shown potential for somatic cell differentiations. However, these hiPSC spheroids are generated using 2D-cultured cells in either nonadherent U-bottom 96-well plates or agarose microarray molding plates, in which single hiPSCs are forced to aggregate into spheroids. These “aggregation molding” methods are neither typically suited for large-scale hiPSC manufacturing nor for tissue engineering. In addition, the aggregated hiPSC spheroids present limited functions compared to physiologically formed hiPSC 3D colonies. In this chapter, advanced 3D cell culture technologies will be reviewed, and comprehensive discussions and future development will be provided and suggested.