The design and fabrication of a porous polymer-based three-dimensional cell culture device for drug screening

A porous polymer-based three-dimensional (3D) cell culture device was developed to test the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs. The device had two chambers that were connected in tandem, each containing a 3D tissue engineering scaffold made of biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (PLA). The system was driven by a peristaltic pump to realise perfusion. In this paper, we present the design and fabrication of the 3D cell culture device and the selection of the cell culture method and perfusion flow rate. The 3D cell culture device was used to test the cytotoxicity of a cancer treatment drug, Temozolomide (TMZ) to liver cells and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cancer cells. As a comparison, the same test was conducted with a two-dimensional (2D) cell culture system. The results show that the cells cultured in 3D were much more resistant to TMZ than those in 2D. Since 3D cell cultures promote the formation of tissue-mimicking structures, the device developed in this study could be used as a more realistic in vitro platform for drug screening. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.