Dear community,
we have the following problem. We populate porous 3D-printed scaffolds made of PLA (cube shape, 8x8x8 mm) with cells and want to monitor their distribution and growth in the pores in a perfusion bioreactor over time (pore size: 500 µm). 3D printing (with simple layer-by-layer arrangement of struts), PLA coating and colonization with cells are already optimized. However, tracking the distribution and arrangement of cells in the pores over time is hardly possible. Images in the pores inside the cube naturally appear blurry and without contour in transmitted light. No conventional method has the required optical depth resolution. Fluorescence staining and SPIM (selective-plane illumination microscopy) will be tried. Here, visualizing the pores of a whole plane would be required.
The alternative is to fix the cells, embed them in resin, cut the scaffold cubes into appropriate slice thicknesses and then image them. However, this procedure is much too time-consuming overall.
We thought of micro-CT or OCT. With both methods, the contrast between scaffold material and cells could be the problem. Who knows which method or procedure could help us?
Thanks for your answers
Martin
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