A Simple, Efficient Technique to Make Colon Crypt Gels for 3D Models

An in vitro colon model, particularly one suited to high-throughput screening, has the potential to enhance understanding of cellular mechanisms and functions important in intestinal health and can be used for drug testing and drug permeation studies. While extensively studied, traditional monolayered cultures using immortalized colon cancer cell lines on transwell plates fail to accurately replicate the native intestinal epithelium’s complex architecture. To address this limitation, we have developed a novel, facile photopolymerization technique to fabricate scaffolds that closely resemble colon crypts. We have further developed a method using screen printing to be able to coat these scaffolds while preserving the crypt architecture in order to vary the surface chemistry of these systems. This article focuses on the development of 3D crypt models that can be made with simple equipment and with chemical precursors that are commercially available to make building tissue models more accessible to the broader research community.