Coating of Surfaces with BIOFLOAT™ Flex Solution
In-vitro Cell culture assays are currently the most popular choice in basic and Pathophysiological research. Additionally cell based in-vitro assays are fast, easy and rapid making it an excellent platform for pharmacological and toxicological studies. Though traditional 2D cell cultures have served these purposes in the past, albeit with limitations. 2D monolayer cells are found structurally different with different cell behavior compared to native state, making them non-representative of cells in-vivo (1). These limitations has caused 2D cultures to evolve into 3D cell culture systems such as Spheroid or organoids, as well as microfluidic systems such as organ on a chip (1,2).
3D cell culture systems focus on growing the cell in an in-vivo like environment allowing cells to self-aggregate and grow and interact with the surrounding extracellular framework in 3D. The hardware used for these 3D cultures are coated with specialized solutions making the surfaces cell repellant (2).
[wonderplugin_video iframe=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69HmYLMIEes” lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle=”” lightboxgroup=”” lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage=”” lightboxoptions=”” videowidth=600 videoheight=400 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss=”position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;” playbutton=”https://facellitate.com/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png”]
Rapid, reliable and reproducible
For a successful 3D cell culture assay, the coating of plates used need to be robust, reproducible, and reliable, generating uniform cell aggregates. The coating must also be applicable for use in wide range of lab ware, from standard 96 well plates to microfluidic devices (1,2). To this end, BIOFLOATTM FLEX coating solutions has been effective at overcoming many limitations in 3D cell culture procedures. BIOFLOATTM Flex, is a polymeric coating solution that rapidly binds to plastic and glass surfaces, generating surfaces with protein and cell repellant properties. The high anti-adhesive properties of the solution, causes the cell surfaces to become “invisible” to the cell, favoring the growth of cell-cell interactions that is vital for normal cell structure and function. Compared to other benchmark low adhesion plates, BIOFLOATTM Flex solution:
– Rapidly and robustly binds to the surface without any pretreatment of the surface
– Is highly protein and cell repellant causing cells to self aggregate and form cell-cell interactions and extracellular matrix.
– Very stable under the different cell culture conditions.
– Cell aggregation is observed as quick as 8 hours post seeding. The aggregates are observed to be uniform and regular.
– Applicable in different cell culture assays with stability of the coating maintained with increased media exchanges or long-term incubation periods.
– Scratch resistant.
– Versatile over different surfaces, and broad range of assays. (2)
Taken together, BIOFLOATTM flex is an ideal solution for 3D cell culture as it is able to rapidly and robustly binds to plastic and glass surfaces with high flexibility as it is absorbs to wide variety of materials with out pre treatment of surface. The robust
nature of the binding makes it applicable for microfluidic devices or flow cells. The cell repellent properties of the solution help to generate uniform spheroids that are essential to reduce the variability and provide reliable data. Collectively BIOFLOATTM flex solution is an effective and reliable tool that can be employed in high throughput pharmacological assays (2).
References
1. Langhans SA (2018) Three-Dimensional in Vitro Cell Culture Models in Drug Discovery and Drug Repositioning. Front. Pharmacol. 9:6. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00006
2. https://facellitate.com/wp-content/uploads/White-Paper-BIOFLOAT-FLEX-1.pdf
