| abstract |
PCT No. PCT/JP94/02222 Sec. 371 Date Aug. 24, 1995 Sec. 102(e) Date Aug. 24, 1995 PCT Filed Dec. 26, 1994 PCT Pub. No. WO95/18216 PCT Pub. Date Jul. 6, 1995Animal cells are cultured while embedded in a collagen gel. The gel containing cells is formed by dispersing animal cells in a collagen solution, placing a drop (or drops) of the cell-containing collagen solution on a support surface and allowing the drop to gel to fix on the surface as a globular collagen gel having a convex surface. The cells are cultured by contacting the gel with a culture medium that may be serum-free or contain dextran sulfate. The drop preferably contains about 3 to about 300 microliters of the collagen solution and is about 2 mm or less in height. The cells may be precultured on a support surface having a collagen layer, released from the collagen layer by treatment with collagenase and dispersed in the collagen solution. The cells can be evaluated after culturing by staining such as with neutral red, or with fluorescein diacetate and irradiating, or by photographing cells in the collagen gel. The support surface can be a continuous ridge forming a recessed area and the drop of collagen solution is placed in the recessed area. Cancer cells can be cultured to test for sensitivity to an anticancer agent. The interaction of cells can be observed in co-culture tests where different kinds of cells are cultured simultaneously. Culturing in a drop enables using a small amount of animal cells sampled from tissue. |