Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Aug 26, 2015; 7(7): 1064-1077
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i7.1064
Simplified three-dimensional culture system for long-term expansion of embryonic stem cells
Christina McKee, Mick Perez-Cruet, Ferman Chavez, G Rasul Chaudhry
Christina McKee, Mick Perez-Cruet, Ferman Chavez, G Rasul Chaudhry, OU-WB Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, United States
Christina McKee, G Rasul Chaudhry, Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, United States
Mick Perez-Cruet, Beaumont Health System, Royal Oak, MI 48073, United States
Ferman Chavez, Department of Chemistry, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, United States
Author contributions: McKee C preformed the majority of experiments, and helped write the manuscript; Perez-Cruet M and Chavez F provided resources; Chavez F synthesized scaffold material; Perez-Cruet M and Chavez F were involved in the editing of the manuscript; Chaudhry GR designed and guided the study, and helped write the manuscript.
Supported by Oakland University and Oakland University-William Beaumont Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (OU-WB ISCRM).
Institutional review board statement: This research is conducted with cell lines purchased from ATCC and has been approved by the Oakland University Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC protocol number: 1814).
Institutional animal care and use committee: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Oakland University (IACUC protocol number: 14033).
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Data sharing statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. G Rasul Chaudhry, Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, 2200 North Squirrel Road, Rochester, MI 48309, United States. chaudhry@oakland.edu
Telephone: +1-248-3703350 Fax: +1-248-3703586
Received: February 21, 2015
Peer-review started: February 22, 2015
First decision: April 27, 2015
Revised: May 27, 2015
Accepted: June 18, 2015
Article in press: June 19, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 187 Days and 4.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The pluripotent nature of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) makes them an ideal source for cell-based therapeutics and regenerative medicine. Efficient and reproducible expansion of ESCs ex vivo is critical for high quality cells for translational applications. However, propagation of ESCs is technically challenging, and often leads to differentiation due to inefficient two-dimensional culture techniques in vitro. To mimic the three-dimensional microenvironment in vivo, self-assembling scaffolds made from thiol-functionalized dextran and polyethylene glycol tetra-acrylate were designed to encapsulate and propagate mouse ESCs. This culture system is simple, robust, efficient and reproducible, permitting long-term maintenance of ESCs without routine passaging and manipulation.