細胞を組み上げて三次元の生体組織を作製する再生医療研究において、拡散により栄養や酸素が十分に行き届くのが困難な組織内部へこれらを血流により供給する長大な毛細血管組織の構築は極めて重要である。本研究では、基本ユニットを積層化させて作製し、三次元的な層流を安定して形成できる新たなマイクロ流体デバイスを開発し、血管内皮細胞からの血管組織構築に有用な同軸二層のマイクロゲルファイバー培養足場の作製。新デバイスによりゲルファイバーの作製効率の向上を達成すると共に、アルギン酸に細胞接着ペプチドを化学修飾した新たなゲル材料の作製も進めた。

Fabrication of large, long, and/or thick engineered tissues, which are implantable to human body for regenerative medicine, attracts great interest. For this purpose, fabrication and introduction of 3D and long blood vessels to maintain cells in the internal area of 3D tissues are critical and the challenging subjects. In this study, the co-axial double layered microgel fibers (micrometers in diameter but tens of centimeters in length) were prepared as the 3D culture scaffolds. The 3D sheath flow microfluidic device was improved and the new-type device, which was composed the stacking basic units, was developed. Effective fabrication of the microgel fibers was also achieved using this device. Vascular endothelial cells were three-dimensionally cultured in the core layer of the microgel fiber and formed luminal structure. The gel materials increased in cell-adhesion worked to enhance formation of luminal capillary.