Table 1.
Morphological and functional features of PDAC cells cultured in 2D, 3D and inside the microfluidics HepaChip device.
| Culture type | Cell type | Adhesion | Spreading | Morphology | 3D aggregate formation + aggregate size | Cytoskeleton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2D | BxPC3 | Strong | Forms tight cell-cell clusters or islands of clusters with spread morphology | Epithelial | Forms large uniform clusters or islands of clusters. | Actin: Long and distributed across the cytoplasm |
| PANC1 | Moderate to strong | Spread morphology with few round shaped cells on top of spread cells | Epithelial | Forms moderate cell-cell aggregates | Actin: Long and distributed across the cytoplasm | |
| MiaPaCa2 | Loose | Both round and spread shaped cells with few elongated feet like structures | Epithelial | Mostly separate cells with few cell-cell aggregates | Actin: Long and localised near the membrane level | |
| 3D | BxPC3 | No adhesion to agarose | Smoothly tight small spheroid with no visible distinction between central and peripheral regions | Actin: Short and distributed around the periphery of the cell | ||
| PANC1 | No adhesion to agarose | Loosely assembled spheroid with clear distinction between tightly formed round central dormant and loosely ruffled (and proliferating) peripheral regions | Actin: Short and distributed around the periphery of the cell | |||
| MiaPaCa2 | No adhesion to agarose | Moderately tight spheroids with visible central dormant and peripheral proliferating regions | Actin: Short and distributed around the periphery of the cell | |||
| HepaChip | BxPC3 | Selective on collagen | On collagen and cells | Mostly flat cells 20–30 µm diameter, few round 10 µm cells on top | At the edges of the coated microstructure w = 20–80 µm * | Actin: Long and distributed across the cytoplasm |
| MiaPaca | Poor adhesion on collagen | Few cells spread on collagen, most stay spherical | Mostly spherical, 5–50 µm, after 24 h few flat cells with “feet” | Small aggregates at the edges of ridges and at pillars w = 80–90 µm* | ||
| PANC1 | On microtopography independend of coating | On any surface and on top of other cells | Many flat cell with “feet”, various shapes, spherical ones on top, 10–50 µm | On the ramps w = 50–120 µm* | Actin: Long and distributed across the cytoplasm |
*Maximum aggregate thickness in the HepaChip® culture chamber was in the range of the measured width of the aggregates on the ramps. It is limited by the 3D geometry of the chamber between 40 µm on the assembly ridges and 190 µm inside the channels (see Fig. 3C) if assuming that at maximum aggregates can fill the height between the lid of the chamber and this ramp at the channel bottom.