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. 2021 Jun 13;13(12):2970. doi: 10.3390/cancers13122970

Table 1.

3D cell culture techniques.

Technique Pros Cons Ref.
Scaffolds Accurate tissue recapitulation Expensive, variability in polymer composition [14,17,18]
Agitation-based methods Easy to perform, inexpensive, appropriate for multicellular spheroid generation Variability in spheroid size, extracellular matrix not addable, inappropriate for migration assays [19,20,21,22]
Suspension cell cultures Easy to perform, inexpensive, appropriate for multicellular spheroid generation Variability in spheroid size, extracellular matrix not addable, inappropriate for migration assays [19,20,21,22]
Hanging drop Inexpensive, spheroid size uniformity Difficult to perform, extracellular matrix not addable, inappropriate for migration assays [19,20,21,22]
Organ-on-a-chip Rapid spheroid formation, spheroid size uniformity, constant perfusion and distribution of oxygen and nutrients Expensive, difficult to perform, specialized equipment and expertise [23,24]