(638e) Effect of Scaffold Positioning On Tissue Thickness In a Batch Tissue Culture Reactor

Porous scaffolds used in various tissue engineering cultures are grown by inserting the seeded construct into the bottom of a tissue culture well, except skin grafts and hepatocytes.  Skin grafts are lifted to the air-liquid interface while hepatocytes are cultured on collagen gels in a sandwich configuration.  This study evaluates the effects of raising the elevation of the scaffold within the static culture system, on nutrient distribution, primarily oxygen and glucose.  Further, the effects of scaffold positioning on maximum cultivable tissue thickness was evaluated in static culture conditions.  A parametric analysis of oxygen and glucose diffusion through the culture media is modeled using the Fick’s second law.  Finite element simulations were performed on COMSOL Multiphysics 3.5a to determine the concentration profiles and hence, the oxygen and glucose transport rates to the scaffold with i) changing porosity and effective diffusivity calculated using Mackie-Meares relationship and ii) consumption kinetics using Michaelis-Menten kinetics.  The study demonstrates that altering the elevation of the scaffold within a static culture well influences the maximum cultivable tissue thickness.