Three-Dimensional Cell Seeding and Culture in Novel Radial-Flow Perfusion Bioreactor

Tissue engineering has been developed as a new approach in regenerating tissues and organs using cells and scaffolds. An important element in successful tissue engineering in vitro is a suitable bioreactor system (Freed and Vunjak-Novakovic 1997). In general, some types of bioreactors have been used for cell culture on polymer scaffolds, namely spinner flasks, rotating vessels, and perfusion system. Although these systems improve the limited oxygen diffusion to the cells on the scaffolds (Navarro et al. 2001; Radisic et al. 2003), cell pre-seeding under a static condition is required. The purpose of the present study was to create a new bioreactor in which the full process of tissue regeneration, from cell seeding to cell growth, can be performed in successive steps. The effect of the media flow rate, and the culture time on the efficiency of cell seeding and cell growth were investigated.