DEVELOPMENT OF A BIOREACTOR FOR THE MECHANICAL STIMULATION OF AGAROSE HYDROGELS

Abstract

Mechanical stimulation plays a role in improving cell growth in the skeletal system. Many studies have reported the development of bioreactors to stimulate cell-seeded, three-dimensional scaffolds. In this study, we developed a bioreactor capable of applying controlled compression to a cell-seeded agarose hydrogel. This bioreactor consists of a circulation system and compression system. In the circulation system, the culture chamber was sealed to prevent contamination and a pump circulated the medium. In the compression system, mechanical stimuli were controlled by LabVIEW software and a mechanical transfer system. To compare the effects of mechanical stimulation on agarose hydrogel scaffolds, we cultured MC3T3-E1 cells statically and dynamically. The number of cells was increased by 43% at seven days under the intermittent condition than under the static conditions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.