Advances and challenges in stem cell culture

Stem cells (SCs) hold great promise for cell therapy, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications. They have the capacity to self-renew and the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types depending upon their source of isolation. However, use of SCs for clinical applications requires a high quality and quantity of cells. This necessitates large-scale expansion of SCs followed by efficient and homogeneous differentiation into functional derivatives. Traditional methods for maintenance and expansion of cells rely on two-dimensional (2-D) culturing techniques using plastic culture plates and xenogenic media. These methods provide limited expansion and cells tend to lose clonal and differentiation capacity upon long-term passaging. Recently, new approaches for the expansion of SCs have emphasized three-dimensional (3-D) cell growth to mimic the in vivo environment. This review provides a comprehensive compendium of recent advancements in culturing SCs using 2-D and 3-D techniques involving spheroids, biomaterials, and bioreactors. In addition, potential challenges to achieve billion-fold expansion of cells are discussed.