Preparation and cell culture of pluronic-immobilized cell culture flask

The bio-inert materials on which cells do not proliferate, differentiate nor de-differentiate should be useful for the culture and preservation of stem cells. The Pluronic F127 and F68 were activated using carbonyldiimidazole (CDI), and CDI-activated Pluronic was subsequently immobilized on the surface of a lysine-coated polystyrene tissue culture flask. The morphology of fibroblasts (L929 cells) on the Pluronic-immobilized flask was spherical, and did not show spreading behavior. This observation indicates that L929 cells on Pluronic-immobilized flasks were cultured in a bio-inert environment. The expression ratio of surface markers on hematopoietic stem cells (CD34 and CD133) cultured in the Pluronic-immobilized flask was significantly higher than PSt tissue culture flask. This is caused by the existence of flexible brush-like segments of Pluronic on the Pluronic-immobilized flask.