Dr. Nhan Ngoc Hien successfully cultured fibroblasts in culture flasks. The image shows fibroblasts magnified 400 times.
This will be a starting point for progressing towards the culture of other cells, such as bone marrow stem cells, using various types of biological materials for grafting.
Currently, researchers around the world have successfully cultured nearly all types of human cells. However, there has been almost no research in Vietnam on the culture of fibroblast sources or the investigation of factors affecting culture results under Vietnamese environmental conditions.
Therefore, this project establishes a foundational study for culturing various cell types and fabricating potential cell scaffolds for grafting materials. Consequently, the research team developed a human fibroblast culture process that is appropriate for Vietnamese conditions. During the development process, the research team identified chorionic villi from fetuses under 12 weeks old as the most suitable source of fibroblasts compared to other tissue sources.
Cells are the basic functional unit of life and the raw material for biomedical research. In medicine, cells are cultured outside the body to examine the body’s responses to various stimuli. Fibroblasts are a fundamental source of cells used in research due to their rapid and robust growth in ex vivo culture environments.
The fibroblast line has many potential applications. In diagnostics, it helps identify the causes of congenital defects related to genetics, pulmonary fibrosis, scleroderma, neurodegeneration (Alzheimer’s), and chromosomal disorders in prenatal diagnostics. In the treatment field, fibroblasts have numerous applications in grafting, such as implantation on artificial skin biological membranes. In research, fibroblasts serve as a substrate for culturing other cells, such as stem cells and cancer cells.
The project to establish the “Human Fibroblast Culture Process” was conducted from November 2004 to December 2005, with a funding of 95 million VND. However, due to the one-year research duration while fibroblasts have a reproductive lifespan of approximately 50 generations before ceasing division and living an additional 18 months, the research team was unable to assess the longevity of the obtained fibroblast line.
In the future, the research team will continue to expand the culture of fibroblasts on coral scaffolds and conduct experimental grafting on animal models. Additionally, the results of this project will aid in isolating and creating pure fibroblast lines to study the differentiation of fibroblasts into osteoblasts.
Huong Cat
