Streamlining Tissue Engineering Workflows: Comparing Tissue Formation Between Freshly Cultured and Directly Thawed Cells

Santos-Heiman, Timothy

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Streamlining Tissue Engineering Workflows: Comparing Tissue Formation Between Freshly Cultured and Directly Thawed Cells

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Expansion of cells, a fundamental component of engineered tissues, requires lengthy culture and planning times that impede the development of readily available tissue engineered products. One way to improve the overall tissue engineering workflow may be the production and use of pre-made frozen cell stocks that can be used directly without the need for additional culture or recovery time. This thesis analyzes the ability of freshly thawed (FT) rat aortic smooth muscle cells to form scaffold-free tissue rings and compares the stability, metabolic activity, structural and mechanical properties to tissues formed from cells that have been cultured for several days prior to tissue development (normally cultured; NC). Although we observed a statistically significant reduction in cell viability in FT cells compared to NC control cells prior to cell seeding and tissue development, we did not observe significant differences in tissue ring formation, structure, metabolic activity, or mechanical properties. The ability for tissues to be formed on-demand from a premade cell stock allows for the decoupling of cell expansion from the tissue engineering workflow, allowing for more rapid production of tissue engineered constructs, and the potential for lowered operating costs and time delays associated with tissue manufacturing.

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