Construction of vascularized nerve tissue by a 3D co-culture system consisting of cell microfibers

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26289060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Intelligent mechanics/Mechanical systems
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Negishi Midori (加藤みどり) 東京大学, 生産技術研究所, 研究員 (30300750)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 尾上 弘晃 慶應義塾大学, 理工学部, 講師 (30548681) ; 三浦 重徳 京都大学, 再生医科学研究所, 助教 (70511244)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: マイクロデバイス / マイクロマシン / 再生医療 / 細胞・組織 / 神経科学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we constructed 3D vascularized nerve tissue by co-culture of cell microfibers. We first evaluated the characteristics of neural microfiber. In the neural stem cell microfiber, the tubular microenvironment with a core diameter of less than ~100 um contributed to forming highly viable and aligned neural tissue after differentiation induction. Then, we constructed 3D neural networks using the “neural tissue units”, which were prepared by cutting the long neural microfibers in an accurate and reproducible manner. Meanwhile, HUVEC fiber was also fabricated. We found that tubular structure with a monolayer of cells along the direction was formed and observed blood vessel sprouting. To observe the vascularization of HUVEC in the neuron-HUVEC coculture system, we then developed a 3D co-culture device in which neural microfibers can be immobilized. Finally, we successfully observed the vascularization of HUVEC in the 3D fibrin gel with neural microfibers.

Free Research Field

神経科学、マイクロデバイス