Long-term 3D culture of the SCC4 cell line using three different culture methods and initial seeding densities

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In recent years, many different methods were introduced for generation of 3D cell culture. However, many currently available three-dimensional techniques are not suitable for certain cell lines and sometimes showed a lack of reproducibility. Therefore, specific protocols for cell lines are needed. In this work, we demonstrate different methods of generating 3D cell culture for SCC4 tongue cancer cell line and discuss their applicability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using three different methods, tumor spheroids were generated from SCC4 cells and cultured for 20 days. To investigate the influence of initial seeding density on spheroid morphology and size during long term culture, the same set of different cell numbers was used for each method. Using phase-contrast microscopy, spheroids were monitored until day 20 and their sizes were determined. RESULTS: We observed that spheroids were formed within 24 hours regardless of the method and initial cell density. Further, in all groups the spheroid size was maximal at day 2, followed by a decline until day 20. Spheroids remained stable until day 20 independent of initial seeding concentration in all groups. DISCUSSION: We have generated long-term culture spheroids of SCC4 cells. The size of the spheroids can be influenced by varying the initial cell seeding density until day 20. This may be useful if different sizes of spheroids are required, e.g. in hypoxia research.