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Updated: Sep 22, 2025
Generation of Tissue Spheroids via a 3D Printed Stamp-Like Device
Published on: October 6, 2022
Development of a device useful to reproducibly produce large quantities of viable and uniform stem cell spheroids
Monize Caiado Decarli1, Mateus Vidigal de Castro2, Júlia Adami Nogueira3
1Department of Engineering of Materials and of Bioprocesses, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas, Av. Albert Einstein, 500, 13083-852, Cidade Universitária "Zeferino Vaz", Campinas, SP, Brazil; MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Department of Complex Tissue Regeneration, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel, 40, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
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. Spheroids of dental pulp stem cells, bone marrow stromal cells and embryonic stem cells showing high cell viability and average diameters of around 253, 220, and 500 μm, respectively, were produced using the device with the geometry considered most adequate. The cell aggregates showed sphericity indexes above 0.9 and regular surfaces (solidity index higher than 0.96). Around 1000 spheroids could be produced in a standard six-well plate. Overall, these results show that this method facilitates obtaining a large number of uniform, viable spheroids with pre-specified average diameters and through a low-cost and reproducible process for a myriad of applications.
