University of Twente Student Theses

Login

Scaffold-free Heart Tissue Assembly: Orchestrating Cells into Functional Structures

Nakken, D.H. (2024) Scaffold-free Heart Tissue Assembly: Orchestrating Cells into Functional Structures.

[img] PDF
96MB
Abstract:Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Implantable therapeutics such as cell-based therapies are known to be a promising treatment method. However, creating fully functional, mature, and non-immunogenic tissues in vitro remains a challenge. For cardiac tissue, the functionality heavily depends on cell alignment. This study aimed to develop a system to control cardiac tissue self-assembly using spheroids as building blocks. Microfeature moulds were fabricated to guide spheroid fusion and promote cell alignment within larger 3D in vitro tissues. A stereolithography (SLA) printer was used to fabricate a positive resin mould and to cast negative agarose moulds with a seeding area of 10 mm2. Human dermal fibroblast spheroids were used for prototyping to optimize the mould design and spheroid seeding density. This resulted in successful spheroid fusion and tissue formation within the microfeatures with a tissue thickness ranging from 65 μm to 117 μm. Tissue area reduction analysis and histology showed a relationship of structural barriers and spheroid coherence. Furthermore, cell alignment was determined staining the actin of mixed rat cardiomyocyte-HDF spheroids, indicating a relationship of structural barriers and cellular organization. This provides insights into strategies for the production of functional heart tissue using spheroids as building blocks.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:ET: Engineering Technology
Subject:42 biology
Programme:Biomedical Engineering MSc (66226)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/104752
Export this item as:BibTeX
EndNote
HTML Citation
Reference Manager

 

Repository Staff Only: item control page