On the contrary, when it is intended to cause necrosis in a central portion of a cell, like
in a cancer cell (Franziska Hirschhaeuser et al., "Multicellular tumor ลูกกลม: An
underestimated tool is catching up again", Journal of Biotechnology 148 (2010) 3-15, Fig. 1), the
equivalent diameter R is ที่ควรใช้คือ equal to or more than 400 pm and less than 2 mm. This is 15 because, as mentioned above, nutrients can be transferred to a central portion of a spheroid with
a size of 300 pm, so that necrosis does not occur. Accordingly, in order to obtain a spheroid
having a diameter of 300 pm or more, it is necessary that the equivalent diameter be equal to or
more than 400 pm.
In addition, the depth D from the bottom of the ส่วนล่าง to the end of each of the 20 โพรง is set in a range from 0.6 or more times to 3 or less times the equivalent diameter R.
The depth D is ที่ควรใช้คือ in a range from 0.7 or more times to 1.2 or less times the equivalent
diameter R, and ที่ควรใช้กว่าคือ, in a range from 0.8 to 1 times the equivalent diameter R.
[0020]
In each ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1, the area between two adjacent โพรง 10 is ที่ควรใช้คือ flat. 25 For example, the distance between two โพรง 10 is ที่ควรใช้คือ in a range from 5 pm to 50 ,um.
This is because it is preferable to increase the number of ลูกกลม per unit area and culture the
ลูกกลม at a high density so that a large number of ลูกกลม can be efficiently obtained. To
achieve this, the area of the upper surface of the wall on which no spheroid is formed is
ที่ควรใช้คือ small as much as possible. In this case, however, when the taper angle is small and 30 the wall is thin, cracking may easily occur due to a vibration during cell seeding or การแทนที่
of a อาหารเลี้ยง. Accordingly, the distance between two โพรง is ที่ควรใช้คือ 5 pm or more. In
view of this, the distance between two โพรง is ที่ควรใช้คือ in a range from 5 to 20 pm.
On the other hand, the two adjacent โพรง 10 may come into contact with each other. For example, a part of an end of one of the two โพรง 10 and a part of an end of the other one
10
of the two โพรง 10 may come into contact with each other, so that the inclined surfaces of the ส่วนช่องเปิดs 12, each of which forms a taper angle, may come into contact with each other to form a chevron shape.
[0021]
5 The ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1 having the above-described shape is ที่ควรใช้คือ produced in the
following manner.
Each ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1 is ที่ควรใช้คือ a resin molding formed of one or a combination of
two or more selected from the group consisting of acrylic resin, โพลีแลคติก acid, โพลีไกลโคลิก acid,
styrene resin, acrylic styrene copolymer resin, polycarbonate resin, polyester resin, polyvinyl
10 alcohol resin, ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin, thermoplastic elastomer, vinyl chloride
resin, and silicon resin.
[0022]
A functional group is ที่ควรใช้คือ formed on the โพรง 10 of the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1 by
a surface modification treatment method of any one of plasma treatment, glass coating, corona 15 discharge, and UV ozonation, or a combination thereof and the treatment is ที่ควรใช้คือ performed
so that the water contact angle becomes 45 degrees or less.
In addition, a hydrophilic polymer chain that inhibits cell adhesion is ที่ควรใช้คือ
immobilized in the โพรง 10. ที่ควรใช้กว่าคือ, the hydrophilic polymer chain is immobilized in the โพรง 10 that are treated so that the above-mentioned water contact angle becomes 45
20 degrees or less.
Furthei nore, a phospholipid or a phospholipid-polymer complex is ที่ควรใช้คือ
immobilized in the โพรง 10. ที่ควรใช้กว่าคือ, this immobilization treatment is performed on
each recess 10 that is treated so that the above-mentioned water contact angle becomes 45
degrees or less, each recess 10 in which a hydrophilic polymer chain is immobilized, or a
25 combination of these โพรง 10.
[0023]
Moreover, each of the โพรง 10 ที่ควรใช้คือ has a cell non-adhesive surface on which
at least one polymer of a hydrophilic polymer chain that inhibits cell adhesion, and a
phospholipid, or a phospholipid-polymer complex is immobilized after a functional group is 30 formed in the โพรง by a surface modification treatment method of any one of plasma
treatment, glass coating, corona discharge, and UV ozonation, or a combination thereof and the
treatment is performed so that the water contact angle becomes 45 degrees or less. More
ที่ควรใช้คือ, this treatment is carried out together with one or a combination of the above-
mentioned treatments.
11
The above-mentioned hydrophilic polymer chain is ที่ควรใช้คือ poly(ไฮดรอกซีเอธิล เมธาคริเลต). ที่ควรใช้กว่าคือ, the average molecular weight of poly(ไฮดรอกซีเอธิล
เมธาคริเลต) is 100,000 or more.
[0024]
5
Next, a method of culturing cells using the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยงs 1 shown in Figs. 1 to 3 will be described.
The cell culture is performed by the following steps:
a) adding a อาหารเลี้ยง in which cells are dispersed to the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยงs 1;
10 b) culturing the cells;
c) การแทนที่ the อาหารเลี้ยง;
d) allowing ลูกกลม to grow;
e) suspending the ลูกกลม in the อาหารเลี้ยง; and
f) recovering the cells.
15 The above-mentioned steps can be classified into two steps, i.e., the step of culturing
cells (cell culture step) and the step of recovering cells (cell harvesting step). The cell culture step includes the steps a) to d), and the cell harvesting step includes the steps e) and f).
The term "spheroid" used herein refers to a three-dimensional cell cluster including a number of aggregated cells.
20 [0025]
Each of the steps will be described below.
a) Step of adding a อาหารเลี้ยง in which cells are dispersed to the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยงs 1
This step is a step of preparing for culture of cells. In this step, the total number of cells as described below are dispersed in a อาหารเลี้ยง and are added to each ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1.
25 A lower limit of the total number of cells is equal to or greater than the number (n) of
โพรง 10 present in the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1.
An upper limit of the total number of cells is equal to or less than a number obtained by
multiplying the number (n) of โพรง by a value obtained by dividing the volume (V) of each of
the โพรง 10 of the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1 by the volume (v) of cells to be seeded. The upper limit 30 of the total number of cells can be represented by the following formula using symbols: V/vxn.
This is based on the premise that the volumes (V) of the จำนวนที่มากกว่าหนึ่ง of โพรง 10 are the same. If
the volumes (V) of the จำนวนที่มากกว่าหนึ่ง of โพรง 10 are different, an average value is used.
The อาหารเลี้ยง is adjusted depending on the cells to be cultured.
[0026]
12
b) Step of culturing cells
The cells are cultured for 12 hours or more in each ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1 to thereby allow the cells to form a spheroid. When the อาหารเลี้ยง is added to each ตู้เพาะเลี้ยง 1, the cells dispersed in the อาหารเลี้ยง are loaded into the โพรง 10 and the cells are cultured in the
5 respective โพรง 10. It is preferable to load one cell into each recess 10, and it is preferable to
form one spheroid in the ที่ว่าง formed by the ส่วนล่าง 11. In each recess 10, a cell
proliferates at the ส่วนล่าง 11 of the recess 10. If at least one cell is not present in each
recess during culture and seeding, no spheroid is formed in the recess 10, because any cell does
not move from the adjacent recess 10 to the said recess 10 during culture. In order to culture 10 ลูกกลม at a high density, it is preferable to form a spheroid in each recess 10. Accordingly, it
is preferable to form at least one cell in each recess 10. In terms of the production efficiency, it
is preferable to reduce the initial number of cells as much as possible and to recover as many
ลูกกลม as possible, and therefore it is preferable that the number of cells present in each recess
10 be small as much as possible. For this reason, it is preferable that one cell be present in each
15 recess 10.
c) Step of การแทนที่ the อาหารเลี้ยง
During การแทนที่ of the อาหารเลี้ยง, 20% or more of the อาหารเลี้ยง in each culture
chamber 1 is sucked, and then the same amount of fresh อาหารเลี้ยง is injected into the culture
chamber. It is preferable to replace the อาหารเลี้ยง at least once during cell culture.
20 d) Step of allowing ลูกกลม to grow
The above-described steps a) to c) are performed a จำนวนที่มากกว่าหนึ่ง of times to thereby allow
ลูกกลม to grow. In the case of differentiating and inducing ลูกกลม, it is preferable that each
spheroid be allowed to grow to a size limited by the ที่ว่าง formed by the ส่วนล่าง 11 of
each recess 10 and then the อาหารเลี้ยง be replaced with differentiation induction อาหารเลี้ยง to
25 thereby differentiate each spheroid. In addition, it is more preferable that 60% or more of the
total number of ลูกกลม formed in the ตู้เพาะเลี้ยงs 1 have a diameter in a range of ±5% of
an average spheroid diameter.
[0027]
e) Step of suspending the ลูกกลม in the อาหารเลี้ยง
30