Organoids, Spheroids, and 3D Cell Culture

3D cell cultures have great potential in disease modeling, regenerative medicine, and other models. 3D cell cultures, including spheroid and organoid cultures, offer opportunities to better understand complex biology than 2D cell cultures can provide.

2D cell culture models grown from immortalized cell lines have served as a foundation for disease modeling and drug development for decades. These cell cultures are generally easy to grow and maintain but typically lack biological complexity and physiological relevance.

3D cell cultures are developed to imitate tissue-like or organ-like characteristics that better replicate the cellular environment in vivo than do 2D cell cultures. They exhibit gene and protein expression signatures close to those observed in vivo. 3D cell cultures, such as organoids and spheroids, are now utilized in neurobiology, stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and cancer biology.

While generating in vitro 3D cell cultures can be more challenging, once established they can offer key insights for translational research. With advanced tissue engineering approaches, there has been considerable progression from 2D to 3D cell cultures that is helping provide more physiological relevance to in vitro experiments.