Polyglycolic acid–polylactic acid scaffold response to different stem cell in-vitro cultures analysed by x-ray synchrotron radiation phase-contrast computed microtomography

Spatiotemporal organization of stem cells- bioscaffold constructs play important roles in the development and functioning of tissues. Cells interact with the surface of bioscaffold polymers and influence material-driven control of cell differentiation. Using X-ray phase-contrast computed microtomography (microCT), we visualized the three-dimensional (3D) image of the in-vitro culture of human stem cells of different derivation, namely muscle and circulating human hematopoietic/ endothelial progenitors expressing the CD133 antigen, HHV-8-infected (KS) and uninfected (CS) endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) , seeded onto polyglycolic acid–polylactic acid scaffolds. X-ray microCT enabled us to detect with high spatial resolution the 3D structural organization of the stem cells onto the bioscaffold and how and at which rate the presence of cells modified the construct arrangement at different times from their seeding. Important differences between the patterns produced by the human stem cells of different derivation were observed. In conclusion, X-ray synchrotron radiation phase-contrast microCT analysis appeared to be a useful and sensitive tool to identify the spatiotemporal pattern of stem cells organization within a bioscaffold.