Table 1 Overview of cell culture systems in real microgravity
Tissue/cell type | Culture system type | Description | Manufacturer | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bone | SJ-10 recoverable satellite-bound culture system | Device included 2 cell culture units; 6 liquid storage units; 1 automatic liquid change system and 1 eleltronic control system. • Refrigeration tablets and circuit control systems under each culture unit and liquid storage unit for temperature regulation. • Automatic liquid changes (rate: 1.67 ml/min) | National Center of Space Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) | |
Heart | microfluidic device inside on-orbit bioreactor on Tianzhou-1 | Consists of two modules: (1) Experimental module: 48 cell culture units, medium bags at 10, peristaltic pumps; (2) Environmental control module: controls liquid circulation and temperature and gas. • Automatic medium change (rate: 0.5 ml/min) • Environmental adjustment based on real-time measurements • Included a microscope with imaging acquisition, processing and electronic control components | Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) | |
Blood | NASA Animal Enclosure Module (AEM) on space shuttle Discovery, STS-131 mission | Composed of stainless steel grid cage, fan blowers, a layered filter system, interior lamps, food bars and a water box. • Habitat provides 8 mice with access to food and water • Includes waste management system | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (United States) | |
Culture vessel on Tianzhou-1 and SJ-10 recoverable satellite culture system | • Automatic replacement of 1.0 ml/hour, 5 h/day • Real time photomicrographs of culture every 24 h | National Center of Space Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) | ||
Skin | Regular incubator on parabolic flight Airbus A310 Zero-G (Novespace) | Gelatin (0.2%)-coated flasks in regular cell culture incubator with a custom-made fixation unit for 16 different 50 mL syringes. • Syringes connected to culture flasks inside incubator • Administration of syringe contents during flight by pushing the handle of the syringe. | CB060, Binder (Tuttlingen, Germany) & BD Plastik (Heidelberg, Germany) | |
Vasculature | Automatic experiment Unit (EU) on ISS. Launch with Dragon Spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX mission CRS-8 | Containing 8 experimental units, each with two cultivation chambers with adhesion surfaces made of polyether ether ketone. • Each EU includes two identical subunits, composed of one cultivation chamber, one medium chamber, one supernatant chamber and a pump. Both units share a fixative chamber. • Automatic medium exchange • On Dragon Spaceflight and Falcon 9, spaceX mission CRS-8 | RUAG Space (Nyon, Switserland) | |
Thyroid | Cell box-1 containers on spaceflight to ISS with Falcon 9 rocket on SpaceX mission CRS-3 and Shenzhou-8 mission. | 9 cell containers with a cell chamber volume of 13.5 mL composed of a transparent Makrolon® lid and a basin milled into a piece of TECAPEEK. • Culture supernatant collected in special container adjacent to the hardware, composed of stainless steel and aluminium. • Each tank devided by a flexible ELASTOSIL® membrane • Automated pumps for medium exchange • Automated RNAlater fixation • Containers were mounted into the Simbox (providing power and drives automation | Cell box manufacturing by Pietsch et al. Simbox operation and maintenance by Kayser Italia (Italy) | |
Cartilage | Organ.Aut Magnetic Bioassembler on Soyuz-FG rocket and Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft to ISS | Custom made cuvettes, comprising three volumes: a reservoir for culture medium, a reservoir for fixative solution and a transparent biofabrication chamber. • Video recording of the experimental process • Independent external plungers for medium and fixative solution reservoirs • Nonhomogeneous magnetic field with paramagnetic culture medium | 3dbio, a company by INVITRO (Russia) and Vivax bio (United States) | |
Flight incubator inside Soyuz capsule TMA-3 on flight 7S (Cervantes mission) to ISS | Three bioreactors chambers consisting of a tube with an upper and lower membrane to enclose the seeded cells and allow nutrient exchange. • System consists of three layers of containment, two cell culture chambers, containment 2 and 3, an outer aluminium cylinder and a temperature regulation system. | High Energy Physics Institute of the ETH Zurich |
