METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAINTENANCE AND EXPANSION OF HEMOPOIETIC STEM CELLS AND/OR PROGENITOR CELLS

摘要

A method of expanding/maintaining undifferentiated hemopoietic stem cells or progenitor cells by obtaining undifferentiated hemopoietic stem cells or progenitor cells; and either seeding the undifferentiated hemopoietic stem cells or progenitor cells into a stationary phase plug-flow bioreactor in which a three-dimensional stromal cell culture has been pre-established on a substrate in the form of a sheet, the substrate including a non-woven fibrous matrix forming a physiologically acceptable three-dimensional network of fibers, thereby expanding/maintaining undifferentiated hemopoietic stem cells or progenitor cells, or culturing the undifferentiated hemopoietic stem cells or progenitor cells in conditioned medium obtained from such a reactor.