GelEnhance Cytocaf®
Pack size: 0.1 mL, 1 mg/mL
Price: £30
Available from TCS Biosciences Ltd.
Features checklist
Recombinant protein polymer for the enhancement of basement membrane extract gels:
- Improves cell motility
- Increases number of viable cells
- Improves vascular network formation ~3x
- Simply mixes in with existing hydrogels
Product description
GelEnhance Cytocaf® is a formulation of the unmodified Cytocaf® (Caf1) material. The native function of the Cytocaf® protein is to prevent the adherence of mammalian cells to bacteria, and so it has evolved over millennia to be perfectly engineered for this purpose.
By adapting the Cytocaf® protein, we are able to exploit this functionality to provide a simple additive for 3D materials, such as basement membrane extract (BME) hydrogels, that enhances cell motility and viability.
Endothelial cells in BME hydrogel
Endothelial cells in BME hydrogel
+ GelEnhance Cytocaf®
Data & specifications
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Bacterial growth | Negative |
| Fungal growth | Negative |
| Particulate examination | Clear |
| Mycoplasma | Negative |
| Host Cell DNA | Undetectable |
Figure 1: (Left) HEK293 cells were seeded at 1 x 10^4 cells per well encapsulated in 1% alginate or 1% alginate supplemented with 0.2% (w/v) GelEnahnce Cytocaf®. Per well, 100µL of the cell and hydrogel mixtures were added to 75µL of 25mM calcium chloride and incubated at 37ºC and 5% CO2 for 1 hour to allow gelation. Following that, 100µL of cell culture media was added per well. Two media formulations were used in this experiment comparing DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS (normal serum conditions) and DMEM supplemented with 2% FBS (low serum conditions). At regular intervals, a PrestoBlue assay was performed with the fluorescence reading correlating to the relative amount of viable cells per well. Error bars represent SEM from three replicates. (Right) 2.5 x 10^4 HCT116 cells were encapsulated per droplet of 1% (w/v) alginate or alginate/0.2% (w/v) GelEnhance Cytocaf®. Droplets were formed by mixing 7.5 µl of cell/gel mixture with 5 µl 50 mM CaCl2. Droplets were incubated at 37°C for 45 minutes. DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS was added to each well and images taken at the point of seeding and following four days of growth. ImageJ analysis was performed to calculate the % migrated across the four days.
Figure 2: Human umbilical cord derived endothelial cells (Angicyte®) were seeded into Matrigel® either neat or supplemented with GelEnhance Cytocaf®, then grown for three days in EGM-2 media supplemented with 10% FBS and imaged with a light microscope at 10x magnification.