Contributed Talk

Nanotube Scaffolds: Versatile and Customizable Culture Platform for Cells and Tissues

Astrid Kupferer^1,3, Sabrina Friebe^1,3, Philine Jauch^1,3, Jan Frenzel^1,2,3, Sonja Kallendrusch⁴, Ivonne Nel⁵, Bahriye Aktas⁵, Mareike Zink², Stefan G. Mayr^1,3

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A personalized therapy for each patient is one of the milestones in medicine. Associated with this is the organotypic culture of endogenous tissue. In this context, the extracellular matrix plays a major role, because it is unique for every part of the body. Hence, each tissue requires a specific microenvironment when cultured ex vivo. For instance, topography and prominent chemical characteristics of the surface are crucial for protein adsorption, cell and tissue adhesion. Usually, the discrepancy between tissue demands and culture conditions results in a loss of physiological properties such as structural integrity, function, or viability of healthy tissues and mamma carcinomas when the culture period exceeds seven days. This indicates that a one-size-fits-all approach of commonly used Teflon membranes, is not effective for an organotypic culture. In contrast, the systematic tailoring of nanotube scaffolds aims to enable enhanced culture of human breast tumor ex vivo and preserves its structure and viability.

Novel advanced nanotube scaffolds with higher conductivity provide a promising platform for brain cells and tissues. Differentiated SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells and U87-MG glioblastoma cells show good cell adhesion and typical cell morphologies on carbon-implanted nanotube scaffolds. Here, the surface characteristics can be fine-tuned in such a way that glioblastoma cell proliferation can be mediated, while differentiated neuroblastoma cells still demonstrate a high viability. This gives rise to enhanced brain tissue adhesion in vitro.

Altogether, we aim to realize a platform for organotypic tissue culture of up to several weeks, where cells and tissues are maintained in physiologic condition ex vivo. In particular, we aim to maintain an intact histomorphology, proper function, infiltration with immune cells and preserved physiological niches, to pave the way for reliable drug testing and personalized medicine.

We acknowledge the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, project EYECULTURE, as well as the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labor and Traffic (SMWA), project NanotubeUpscaling, for funding.