RESUMO
Three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures have many advantages over two-dimensional cultures. However, seeding cells in 3D scaffolds such as nonwoven fibrous polyethylene terephthalate (PET) matrices has been a challenge task in tissue engineering and cell culture bioprocessing. In this study, a centrifugal seeding method was investigated to improve the cell seeding efficiency in PET matrices with two different porosities (93% and 88%). Both the centrifugal force and centrifugation time were found to affect the seeding efficiency. With an appropriate centrifugation speed, a high 80-90% cell seeding efficiency was achieved and the time to reach this high seeding efficiency was less than 5 min. The seeding efficiency was similar for matrices with different porosities, although the optimal seeding time was significantly shorter for the low-porosity scaffold. Post seeding cell viability was demonstrated by culturing colon cancer cells seeded in PET matrices for over 5 days. The centrifugal seeding method developed in this work can be used to efficiently and uniformly seed small fibrous scaffolds for applications in 3D cell-based assays for high-throughput screening.