Multi-Well Chip for Forming a Uniform Embryoid Body in a Tiny Droplet with Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

抄録

A multi-well chip (MWC) is described by which mouse embryonic carcinoma (EC) stem cells form a comparatively more rapid and uniform embryoid body (EB) over the conventional hanging drop (HD) method. The newly developed MWC consists of an array of extruded through-holes, each of which holds a droplet of the cell suspension. The study found that the small curvature radius of the droplet in the MWC improved the EB formation rate of a hanging drop from 70% to 98%. Furthermore, the EBs formed by the MWC were uniformly round in shape regardless of the number of suspended cells ranging from 0.5×10³ to 20×10³. The ratio of beating colonies from the MWC was over 2-fold larger than that from HD. The experiments demonstrate that the MWC will be a valuable experimental tool for robust and reproducible EB-based differentiation of a defined number of ES cells.