Alginate-Microfibers produced by self-assembly in cell culture medium

Abstract

Alginate microfibers were fabricated by self assembly of alginate monomers exuded from alginate beads (∼ 2 mm in diameter) containing calcium phosphate. Upon incubation of the beads in cell culture medium at 37 °C for a few days, fibers with a diameter of about 7 μm started to sprout from the bead surface, and these grew up to about 10 mm in length, resulting in the beads being covered with fiber forests similar to chestnut bur. The combined system of the alginatebased microfiber forest and bead is considered to be useful as a novel 3-dimensional scaffold for cell culture and tisssue growth.