Cells in Ceramics: Finding out About Getting In: Development and Operation of a Perfusion Bioreactor for the Cultivation of Mammalian Cells Inside a Sponge-like Ceramic Matrix

Cultivation of adherently growing cells inside three dimensional scaffolds gains more importance as speci?c demands from medicine and industry arise. A huge challenge herein lies in nutrient supply all over the scaffold's volume. This work presents a perfusion bioreactor device for cell cultivation inside porous aluminium oxide ceramics. Different modes of inoculation have been assessed as well as a set of perfusion velocities. Uniform cell distribution has been assured by cell staining of scaffold's cross sections. Two elaborate approaches for determination of overall cellular proliferation are introduced, which overcome the challenge of cell release out of porous substrates. The bioreactor supports vital growth of CHO-K1, A549, MDCK and human primary fibroblasts on and in ceramic cylinders of 5 mm height and 10 mm diameter with perfusion velocities from 0.33-0.66 ml/(min*cm²). For week-long perfusion cultivation of CHO-K1 and human primary fibroblasts fibrous structures have been observed inside ceramic scaffolds, thus supporting the hypothesis of three dimensional cell cultivation with secretion of extra-cellular-matrix proteins.