What Is a Well Plate Used For? | 3D Spheroid Culture | Corning

For over half a century, scientists have tried to mimic human physiology and predict drug efficacy and toxicity using two-dimensional cell cultures. Yet, there are many aspects of in vivo physiology, cell function, and cell interactions that cannot be replicated in 2D. One forward-looking approach developed in the last few decades involves combining two technologies: multicellular, three-dimensional culture models that better resemble human physiology and high-throughput screening and analysis methods.

What Are Well Plates Used For?

Well plates facilitate high-throughput screening by making it possible to test many compounds or conditions on cells grown under uniform conditions. While well plates ranging from 6 to 1536 wells per plate have many familiar uses in 2D cell culture, specialized well plates have been developed for use in 3D culture.

What is a well plate used for in 3D culture? Specialized well plates are useful for growing spheroids, which are clumps of cells growing in a 3D, spherical shape, in a straightforward workflow. There are also well plates used for growing organoids, which are 3D cultures that contain multiple cell types and are capable of self-organization.

3D Cell Culture Models

Researchers have developed several types of 3D culture systems with the goal of creating in vitro models that better resemble human physiology, thus providing better disease models and more accurate predictions of drug response. One such system is multicellular spheroids.

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A main disadvantage of using 2D cell culture systems is the poor resemblance of these systems to the in vivo physiological environment of normal or cancer cells, which can make it difficult to predict the efficacy and toxicity of drug candidates based on 2D culture studies. In a quest to increase the low clinical approval rate for drug candidates, many companies are turning to tumor spheroids and other 3D culture systems.

Within a spheroid, cells on the exterior and cells on the interior experience different microenvironments, with concentration gradients for nutrients, oxygen, and drugs, and cell-cell interactions and signaling occur in three dimensions. These characteristics make spheroids valuable models for cancer research, stem cell research, and drug screening.

The Need for Efficient Spheroid Production

To harness the full potential of 3D cell culture models in the drug development process, researchers need efficient and high-throughput techniques for culturing cells in 3D and for analyzing 3D experiments. However, producing uniform, high-quality spheroids in large quantities is not easy.

Well plate technology specifically designed for 3D culture is helping laboratories access more straightforward processes for spheroid production and analysis. Compared to methods like hanging drop culture, specialized well plates can enable the production of more uniform spheroids, whose size can be easily controlled.

What Are the Different Types of Well Plates Used in 3D Culture?

Many types of well plates are available for use in the lab. Corning offers many options for microplates that are useful in biochemical assays, high throughput screening, high content screening, automation, and other applications. Corning's microplates are compatible with a wide range of laboratory instruments.

A well plate used in a 3D cell-based assay, such as spheroid generation, would have different surface requirements than a well plate used for a biochemical assay or a well plate used in 2D culture. Black-colored plates are often used in fluorescence instruments but can also work well for luminescence assays, while clear and white plates are often used for absorbance and luminescence instruments, respectively.

Ultra-low-attachment, U-bottom plates are one option for generating spheroids. In ultra-low-attachment plates, such as the Corning® Spheroid Microplate, gravity and the hydrophilic, neutrally charged coating on the wells prevent cell attachment, encouraging cells to grow in uniform and reproducible spheroids without the use of a scaffold.

Microcavity plates, such as Corning Elplasia® plates, use microcavity technology in which each well's geometry facilitates the formation of many spheroids of uniform size. Compared to U-bottom well plates, microcavity plates can enable quicker production of a large number of spheroids as well as greater signal strength.

Optimizing 3D Culture with Corning

Advanced technologies, such as the Corning Elplasia 12K Open Well Plate and Corning Elplasia 6-, 24- and 96-well plates, provide a straightforward method to generate, analyze, and harvest a large quantity of uniform spheroids. Ultra-low-attachment Corning Spheroid Microplates are available in 96-, 384-, and 1536-well imaging-ready formats.

Visit Corning's resource library for videos, protocols, and guides that can help set you up for success with 3D, or get in touch with our experts today.