Comparison of growth kinetics between static and dynamic cultures of human induced pluripotent stem cells

Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that govern the growth kinetics of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) contributes to culture design strategies to improve large-scale production. Two hiPSC lines (Tic and 253G1) were cultured under static and dynamic suspension conditions, and growth kinetics were compared during early (24-48 h), middle (48-72 h), and late (72-96 h) stages. In 2D static culture, similar growth profiles were observed for both hiPSC lines. However, there were significant differences in growth profile patterns and aggregate morphologies between hiPSC lines grown in 3D static and dynamic cultures. Based on immunostaining comparing the two hiPSC lines, surface distribution of collagen type I was observed in aggregates of the Tic line, but not in those of the 253G1 line. Compared to that in 3D static culture, the numbers of cells at 96 h were significantly decreased in 3D dynamic culture. The apparent specific growth rate (μapp) of the Tic line was maintained continuously throughout culture, whereas that of the 253G1 line decreased gradually with culture until the late phase, at which time this parameter was reduced to μapp = (0.85 ± 0.71) × 10−2 h−1. This indicates that during the growth of hiPSCs in 3D dynamic culture, cells were damaged by liquid flow, which disrupted the cell-synthesized extracellular matrix (ECM). These results demonstrate that cell-synthesized ECM is an important factor affecting cell growth and morphology, and that changes to the ECM within aggregates lead to reduced growth abilities in dynamic culture.