Figure 7.

Characterisation of hMSC-PG microsphere behaviour in absence of manual manipulation procedures. (a) Validation of the microfluidic device and further characterisation of cell-material interactions without manual manipulations was achieved by culturing hMSCs on CoO 0% PG microspheres side-by-side with the Synthemax II control in the presence of either standard DMEM media or osteogenic media. Osteogenic media induced type I collagen production on both surfaces but clustering into tissue-like structures was only observed for CoO 0% materials. The CoO 0% microsphere material was also able to upregulate type I collagen production independent of chemical cues. (b) Assessment of cell-material clustering on CoO 0% into tissue-like structures was indirectly calculated by measuring surface area coverage, which was reduced in the presence of osteogenic media. The experiments was performed using two different donors, showing a similar trend. Confocal images obtained with one representative hMSC donor are shown in the figure, scale bars = 500 µm.