Alvetex® 3D Cell Culture System
Synthetic scaffold for routine 3D cell culture
Traditionally, cultured cells grow on treated-polystyrene 2D surfaces as in standard cell culture plastic-ware. alvetex® presents cells with the equivalent growth substrate but in a 3D format. These materials are readily adaptable to different types of existing tissue culture plastic-ware (e.g. multi-well plates, well inserts). The culture device is pre-fabricated, sterile, is ready to use off-the-shelf and can be handled in a similar manner as standard 2D plastic-ware.
AMSBIO offers alvetex®, a synthetic 3D cell culture system plastic for routine 3D cell culture. This is a highly porous polystyrene scaffold for 3D cell culture, bringing a new dimension to your research capabilities. Delivering more in vivo-like results over traditional two-dimensional monolayer cultures.
Benefits
Alvetex® is a highly porous 3D cell culture plastic scaffold engineered into a 200µm thick membrane which provides a 3D space into which cells can invade, proliferate and grow. The vertical axis of the third dimension essentially enables additional layers of cells to form complex 3D interactions with adjacent cells simulating the structure of a tissue.
- Consistent Structure
- Based on existing cell culture material
- Stable and inert
- Adaptable to existing cell formats
- Compatible with current methods of analysis
The culturing of mammalian cells in a traditional laboratory plastic-ware 2D model results in flat monolayer cultures with flattened nuclei. alvetex® has been designed to stop this flattening shape change from happening. Cells can retain their natural 3D architecture when they enter the scaffold. Preventing the flattening out of cells and avoiding the stress associated with conventional/artificial 2D cell cultures. This preserves the natural attributes of the cell and allows them to form complex interactions with adjacent cell to receive/transmit signalling molecules.
Product range
Alvetex® is available in a range of formats designed with ease of use and flexibility in mind:
- Alvetex® Scaffold: primarily designed for 3D culture of mammalian cells within the scaffold, forming structures up to 200µm thick. (Average void size: 42 µm).
- Alvetex® Strata: is designed for growing cells in 3D on the top surface. Cells still grow in 3D but are less likely to enter the scaffold because the voids are much smaller. This product is useful for customers who wish to grow cells in 3D then recover 90-95% of the 3D cells for further analysis (Average void size: 15 µm).
| Name | Datasheet | Packsize | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alvetex Kit Strata Well Insert Starter Kit | - | 1 | View |
| Alvetex Perfusion Plate Kit (Perfusion plate x 2 and Alvetex Scaffold 12 well insert x 12) |  | 1 | View |
| Alvetex Perfusion Plate Kit (Perfusion plate x 2 and Alvetex Scaffold 6 well insert x 12) |  | 1 | View |
| Alvetex Perfusion Plate Kit (Perfusion plate x 5 and Alvetex Scaffold 12 well insert x 48) |  | 1 | View |
| Alvetex Perfusion Plate Kit (Perfusion plate x 5 and Alvetex Scaffold 6 well insert x 48) |  | 1 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 12 well insert × 96 |  | 96 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 24 well insert × 48 | - | 48 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 24 well insert × 12 |  | 12 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 24 well insert × 96 |  | 96 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 384 well plate × 10 |  | 10 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 384 well plate × 2 |  | 2 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 384 well plate × 80 |  | 80 | View |
| Alvetex Scaffold 6 well insert × 96 |  | 96 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 12 well insert × 12 |  | 12 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 12 well insert × 48 |  | 48 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 12 well insert × 96 | - | 96 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 6 well insert × 12 |  | 12 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 6 well insert × 48 |  | 48 | View |
| Alvetex Strata 6 well insert × 96 | - | 96 | View |
| Alvetex Well insert holder x 10 and deep Petri-dish x 10 | - | 10 | View |
Alvetex® Technology
Alvetex® is made from inert polystyrene using emulsion templating and its surface chemistry can be varied to influence cell adhesion, proliferation and function (Hayman et al. 2005). By changing the chemical composition of the emulsion and the processing conditions, the porosity of alvetex® can be adjusted to suit alternative applications (Carnachan et al. 2006).
Tested on a broad and growing selection of different cell types this 3D scaffold demonstrates enhanced functional activity compared to cells grown under identical conditions on 2D culture plastic. Having shown that the differentiation of cultured stem cells is significantly influenced by 3D growth (Hayman et al. 2004).
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- Alvetex® presented in a multi-well plate format is ideal for short-term cultures and techniques such as transfection
- Alvetex® mounted in our well insert bathes the 3D culture in medium from above and below enabling long-term culture. Our well insert holder mounted in a deep Petri dish provides a larger volume of medium to further optimize growth of long-term 3D cultures, and enables co-culture studies (2D and 3D; or 3D and 3D)
- Perfusion Plate: allows dynamic circulation and perfusion of culture medium within a multi-welled Plate
- Suggestions for co-culture are available
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Assays Compatible with Alvetex®
- Tissue processing, fixation, embedding and sectioning
- Histological staining, in situ hybridisation
- Bright-field microscopy and photographic imaging
- Electron microscopy - both SEM and TEM
- Cryostat sectioning
- Immunocytochemistry
- Fluorescence microscopy, confocal, laser capture
- Isolation of viable cells for passaging
- Flow cytometry and cytospinning
- Extraction of nucleic acid and total protein
- Biochemical assays
Resources
- AMSBIO modelling the growth of simple epithelial monolayers using alvetex scaffold
- Perfusion Plate : Dynamic Circulation & Perfusion of Culture Medium
- Propagation of Human Pluripotent Stem cells in 3D Culture using Alvetex Strata
- Maintenance of Intact Tissues Using Alvetex Strata
- Enhanced structure viability of liver hepatocytes (in development)
- Alvetex®Scaffold 96 – Toxicity assessment using HepG2 liver cell lines
- Alvetex®Scaffold 96 – Testing cytotoxicity in MCF-7 and SW620 cancer cell lines
- Preclinical Profiling of Anti-Cancer Therapeutics Using a 96-Well 3D Cell Culture Assay
- AlvetexScaffold in the Development of 3D Co-culture Models
- Growth and Differentiation of Neural Tissues Using Alvetex Scaffold
- Formation of Mesenchymal Tissues in Alvetex Scaffold
- Routine Assessment of Cancer Cell Cytotoxicity
- Cell Invasion Application Notes
- Alvetex Development of full thickness human skin equivalent
- 3D Cell Culture: Mimicking Real Tissue
- Alvetex®Scaffold 96 – Protocol
- Technology for Routine Three Dimensional Cell Culture
- Handling alvetex®
- Examples of 3D cell cultures on alvetex® presented in different formats
- Use of alvetex® in well insert formats
- Use of Well Insert Holder in Deep Petri Dish
- Basement Membrane Extract (Matrigel) Coating of alvetex®
- Collagen I Coating of alvetex®
- Collagen I Thin Gel Coating on Alvetex Scaffold
- Poly-D or L-lysine Coating of alvetex®
- Fibronectin Coating of alvetex®
- 3D Culture of MCF-7 cells using alvetex
- 3D Culture of 3T3 cells using alvetex 12-well plate
- 3D Culture of 3T3 cells using alvetex 6-well insert
- 3D Culture of HepG2 cells using alvetex 12-well plate
- 3D Culture of HepG2 cells using alvetex 6-well insert
- Liver Cell Growth in alvetex
- 3D Culture of TERA2cl. SP12 cells using alvetex 12-well plate
- 3D Culture of TERA2cl. SP12 cells using alvetex 6-well insert
- 3D Culture of CHO-K1 cells using alvetex 12-well plate
- 3D Culture of CHO-K1 cells using alvetex 6-well insert
- alvetex Skin Model
- Guidelines for the preparation of 3D co-culture using alvetex®
- PicoGreen assay : Determination of cell number and growth characteristics
- MTT cell viability assay of cultures grown on 3D alvetex®
- AlamarBlue cell viability assay of upcyte hepatocyte cultures grown on 3D alvetex®
- MTS cell viability assay of upcyte hepatocyte cultures grown on 3D alvetex®
- Review of imaging techniques compatible with alvetex® 3D Culture
- Simple visualisation of cells on alvetex® scaffold using Light Microscopy
- Live Cells Imaging using Confocal Microscopy
- Immunofluorescence Confocal Microscopy
- Choosing the right fixative to preserve 3D cell cultures
- PFA fixation and paraffin wax embedding for Immunofluorescence
- Bouins fixation and paraffin wax embedding for Haematoxylin and Eosin staining
- Resin embedding and toluidine blue staining for Light Microscopy
- Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
- Cryosectioning the alvetex 3D Scaffold
- Extraction of RNA from Cells Cultivated on 3D alvetex®
- Total Protein Extraction from Cells Cultivated on 3D alvetex®
- Retrieval of Cells from alvetex® Scaffold
Citations
Tailoring the morphology of emulsion-templated porous polymers
Carnachan, R.J., et al (2006) Soft Matter 2(7): 608-616.
Enhanced neurite outgrowth by human neurons grown on solid three-dimensional scaffolds
Hayman M.W., et al (2004) Biochem Biophys Res Commun 314(2):483-8.
Growth of human stem cell-derived neurons on solid three-dimensional polymers
Hayman, M.W., et al (2005) J Biochem Biophys Methods 62(3): 231-40.
