Timelapse monitoring of cell behavior as a tool in tissue engineering

Abstract

Tissue engineering is a research field in biomedicine which has evolved rapidly during the last two decades. It is based on the isolation of cells, their proliferation in vitro on a scaffold, followed by the implantation of the construct inside a living organism. Each of the main elements from a tissue engineered construct – cells, scaffold, signaling molecules – has a vital role in assuring the desired characteristics and proper functioning of the whole structure. In order to ensure a normal healing process and no adverse reactions, biocompatibility tests have to be performed in complex experiments needing sophisticated equipments. Two such equipments are presented in this paper: BioStation IM, a microscope that allows capturing images by timelapse videomicroscopy, and xCELLigence, an instrument which determines cell impedance as a measure of cell adhesion, spreading, migration and proliferation. The usefulness of these two equipments in tissue engineering research is discussed.