title: Microcarrier-based platforms for in vitro expansion and differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells in bioreactor culture systems.
abstract: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) have attracted a great attention as an unlimited source of cells for cell therapies and other in vitro biomedical applications such as drug screening, toxicology assays and disease modeling. The implementation of scalable culture platforms for the large-scale production of hPSC and their derivatives is mandatory to fulfill the requirement of obtaining large numbers of cells for these applications. Microcarrier technology has been emerging as an effective approach for the large scale ex vivo hPSC expansion and differentiation. This review presents recent achievements in hPSC microcarrier-based culture systems and discusses the crucial aspects that influence the performance of these culture platforms. Recent progress includes addressing chemically-defined culture conditions for manufacturing of hPSC and their derivatives, with the development of xeno-free media and microcarrier coatings to meet good manufacturing practice (GMP) quality requirements. Finally, examples of integrated platforms including hPSC expansion and directed differentiation to specific lineages are also presented in this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sara M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Badenes
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tiago G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carlos A V
authors.initials: CAV
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Margarida
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Diogo
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: joaquim.cabral@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
authors.forename: Joaquim M S
authors.initials: JMS
authors.lastname: Cabral
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003911:Dextrans / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003911:Dextrans; D011137:Polystyrenes
keywords: Bioreactors; Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC); Integrated expansion and differentiation; Large-scale production; Microcarriers; hPSC derivatives