Fabrication of a thermoresponsive cell culture dish: a key technology for cell sheet tissue engineering.

This article reviews the properties and characterization of an intelligent thermoresponsive surface, which is a key technology for cell sheet-based tissue engineering. Intelligent thermoresponsive surfaces grafted with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) exhibit hydrophilic/hydrophobic alteration in response to temperature change. Cultured cells are harvested on thermoresponsive cell culture dishes by decreasing the temperature without the use of digestive enzymes or chelating agents. Our group has developed cell sheet-based tissue engineering for therapeutic uses with single layer or multilayered cell sheets, which were recovered from the thermoresponsive cell culture dish. Using surface derivation techniques, we developed a new generation of thermoresponsive cell culture dishes to improve culture conditions. We also designed a new methodology for constructing well-defined organs using microfabrication techniques.