Self-assembling Fmoc dipeptide hydrogel for in situ 3D cell culturing

Phenylalanine derivative hydrogel formation was seen to occur in multiple dispersion media. Cells were immobilized in situ within microchambers designed for cell analysis. Use of the highly biocompatible hydrogel components and simplistic procedures significantly reduced the cytotoxic effects seen with alternate 3D culture materials and microstructure loading methods. Cells were easily immobilized, sustained and removed from microchambers. Differences in growth morphology were seen in the cultured cells, owing to the 3-dimentional character of the gel structure. Degradation improved the removal of hydrogel from the microstructures, permitting reuse of the analysis platforms.Self-assembling diphenylalanine derivative hydrogel provided a method to dramatically reduce the typical difficulties of microculture formation. Effective generation of patterned 3D cultures will lead to improved cell study results by better modeling in vivo growth environments and increasing efficiency and specificity of cell studies. Use of simplified growth scaffolds such as peptide-derived hydrogel should be seen as highly advantageous and will likely become more commonplace in cell culture methodology.Cell culture techniques are an integral part of cell analysis. Culture methods are often not a primary concern in growth studies, but rather a means to experimental results. As more understanding of its influences is revealed, the significance of cell growth methodology is receiving considerably more attention. For example, it is increasingly common to see a shift in growth studies from 2D surface cultures to 3D suspension cultures [1-3]. This clear trend is a product of growth methodology improvements arising leading to more realistic and relevant analysis results. In order to best mimic natural cell growth, in vitro cultures attempt to closely model the extracellular support structure naturally occurring in tissues. In vivo tissue growth involves cell production of extracellular matrix materi