Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 11 Amount of secreted
albumin from HepG2 cells
encapsulated in the PMBV/
PVA hydrogel and on TCPS
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The HepG2 cells encapsulated into the
PMBV/PVA hydrogel maintained a high level of albumin synthetic function during
encapsulation for 5 days (Fig.
11
). On the TCPS, the HepG2 activity decreased with
culture time. It has been reported that human hepatocellular cells decrease their
liver-specific functions in 2D culture due to monolayer failure to accurately mimic
the native microenvironment [
60
]. The results in Fig. 11 show that the PMBV/PVA
hydrogel did not induce a reduction in cell-specific function. It has been reported
that the functions and proliferation of cells is related to the morphology of cells
[
61
]. A strong cell adhesion and spreading often lead to proliferation, while round-
shaped cell morphology is required for cell-specific functions. Thus, cell-specific
functions can be preserved in the PMBV/PVA hydrogel.
6 Gene Expression of Cells Encapsulated in PMBV/PVA
Hydrogel
Gene expression is an important parameter for estimating the cell activity. In this
study, a mouse mesenchymal stem cell line (C3H10T1/2) was encapsulated in the
PMBV/PVA hydrogel. The gene expression analysis was performed using the
quantified polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method after 1 day of culture. In this
study, four kinds of genes were evaluated, beta-2 microglobulin (
B2m
), elongation
factor 1-gamma (
Eef1g
), succinate dehydrogenase complex subunit flavoprotein
variant A (
Sdha
), and TATA-binding protein (
Tbp
).
Figure
12
shows the result of qPCR analysis. Since formation of the PMBV/PVA
hydrogel is reversible, the encapsulated cells can be recovered from the gel without
any damage after treatment with the dissociation reagents. Housekeeping genes are
typically constitutive genes that are required for the maintenance of basic cellular
function, and are found in all cells of an organism. In the PMBV/PVA hydrogel, all
housekeeping genes were expressed. This result indicated that the encapsulated
cells maintained their basic cellular function in the PMBV/PVA hydrogels.
