Differential expression of extracellular matrix and growth factors by embryoid bodies in hydrodynamic and static cultures.

During development, cell fate specification and tissue development are orchestrated by the sequential presentation of soluble growth factors (GF) and extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules. Similarly, differentiation of stem cells in vitro relies upon the temporal presence of extracellular cues within the microenvironment. Hydrodynamic culture systems are not limited by volume restrictions and therefore offer several practical advantages for scalability over static cultures; however, hydrodynamic cultures expose cells to physical parameters not present in static culture, such as fluid shear stress and mass transfer through convective forces. In this study, the differences between static and hydrodynamic culture conditions on the expression of ECM and GF molecules during the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells were examined at both the gene and protein level. The expression of ECM and GF genes exhibited an early decrease in static cultures based on heat map and hierarchical clustering analysis and a relative delayed increase in hydrodynamic cultures. Although the temporal patterns of specific ECM and GF protein expression were comparable between static and hydrodynamic cultures, several notable differences in the magnitudes of expression were observed at similar time points. These results describe the establishment of an analytical framework that can be used to examine the expression patterns of ECM and GF molecules expressed by pluripotent stem cells undergoing differentiation as 3D multicellular aggregates under different culture conditions, and suggest that physical parameters of stem cell microenvironments can alter endogenous ECM and GF expression profiles that may, in turn, influence cell fate decisions.