Comparision of Different Extracellular Matrix in Mcf7 Tumor Spheroid Formation

Alginate hydrogels have already been extensively used in cell encapsulation, but few investigations have been done to compare cell proliferation and drug response in different extracellular matrices. We previously developed a novel microfluidics approach for tumor spheroid generation and testing: a cellladen core-shell bead suitable for several days of culture, which contains growing spheroids in varying concentrations of collagen, Matrigel, and alginate within a standardized volume. Here, we compared the growth of MCF7 cells in alginate, collagen-alginate, and Matrigel-collagen-alginate. Alginate gels containing both collagen type I and Matrigel were found to enhance MCF7 proliferation and tumor spheroid uniformity in contrast to alginate alone or collagen-alginate. We used second harmonic generation imaging to visualize the collagen distribution inside the cell-laden beads, and examined dose response in hypoxic conditions.