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Polymethylmethacrylate Copolymer-Based Microcarriers for Culturing Mammalian Cells

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Abstract

Purpose

Microcarriers have been extensively explored for culturing anchorage-dependent mammalian cells for various applications. While numerous polymers have been explored for fabricating the microcarriers, both natural and synthetic polymers have their shortcomings. Thus, a synthetic, biocompatible polymer, exhibiting good cell adhesion properties, is the most suitable material for such applications. In this context, polymethylmethacrylate copolymers, commercially available as Eudragit® grades, were investigated for their suitability as matrices for mammalian cell culture.

Methods

Eudragit® RL100 grade was successfully used to fabricate uniform, spherical, and non-porous microcarriers for the first time, having a diameter of 222 ± 60 µm, by the modified emulsion cross-linking/solvent evaporation process. Further, the recombinant cell line CHO 6E6, reported to produce human IgG, was used for evaluating the potential of coated and non-coated microcarriers to support in vitro cell growth and proliferation.

Results

It was observed that cells did not grow on uncoated microcarriers, though some cellular attachment was observed. However, they could attach, grow, and produce IgG on gelatin- and collagen-coated Eudragit® RL100 microcarriers. Microcarriers coated with collagen promoted higher proliferation of cells than those coated with gelatin, while the cells growing on the latter resulted in higher production of IgG.

Conclusion

Functionally active cells could be successfully grown on Eudragit® RL100 microcarriers coated with collagen and gelatin. Gelatin offered a more suitable chemistry for the growth of morphologically appropriate cells, which ultimately lead to higher productivity. While this study is one of the few proof-of-concept investigations to evaluate the potential of Eudragit® microcarriers for mammalian cell culture, further investigations are warranted to demonstrate a match in the productivity of the growing cells with those being cultivated on commercially available microcarriers.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author if required. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The authors would like to thank Evonik Healthcare for generously providing the gift sample for Eudragit®. We also want to thank Nano-medicine Research Group for the guidance and support at various stages.

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. Also, Evonik Healthcare generously provided the gift sample for Eudragit® for experimentation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai, 400019, India

    Nikita Aware & Prajakta Dandekar

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai, 400019, India

    Tejal Pant & Ratnesh Jain

Authors
  1. Nikita Aware
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  2. Tejal Pant
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Prajakta Dandekar, Ratnesh Jain; Methodology: Prajakta Dandekar, Nikita Aware, Tejal Pant; Formal analysis and investigation: Nikita Aware, Tejal Pant; Writing - original draft preparation: Nikita Aware; Writing - review and editing: Tejal Pant, Prajakta Dandekar; Resources and Supervision: Prajakta Dandekar, Ratnesh Jain. Aware Nikita carried out the fabrication and modification of the microcarriers, cell culture and characterisation of the cultured cells. Pant Tejal provided guidance for performing cell culture and carried out analysis on the confocal laser scanning microscope. Jain Ratnesh and Dandekar Prajakta conceived the concept for this investigation and participated in the design of the study. All the authors helped to draft and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ratnesh Jain or Prajakta Dandekar.

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Aware, N., Pant, T., Jain, R. et al. Polymethylmethacrylate Copolymer-Based Microcarriers for Culturing Mammalian Cells. J Pharm Innov 17, 881–891 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12247-020-09532-3

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