Development of a device useful to reproducibly produce large quantities of viable and uniform stem cell spheroids with controlled diameters.

Three-dimensional cellular aggregates can mimic the natural microenvironment of tissues and organs and obtaining them through controlled and reproducible processes is mandatory for scaling up and implementing drug cytotoxicity and efficacy tests, as well as tissue engineering protocols. The purpose of this work was to develop and evaluate the performance of a device with two different geometries fabricated by additive manufacturing. The methodology was based on casting a microwell array insert using a non-adhesive hydrogel to obtain highly regular microcavities to standardize spheroid formation and morphology.

Comparison of the properties of membranes produced with alginate and chitosan from mushroom and from shrimp.

Dense and porous chitosan-alginate membranes (1:1 in mass) useful as coverages of skin wounds treated through cell therapy were produced using chitosan of different chain sizes from fungal (white mushrooms) and animal (shrimp shells) sources. Porous materials were obtained by adding the surfactant Poloxamer 188 to the formulations. The influence of chitosan type on membranes physicochemical properties and toxicity to fibroblasts was evaluated.