Quality control of cultured tissues requires tools for quantitative analyses of heterogeneous features developed in manufacturing process

Tissue engineering and related technology have attracted a great deal of medical attention as promising fields for curing defective tissues in vivo. Nowadays, many companies have been established for supplying the reconstructed grafts of cultured tissues for transplantation. The manufacturing processes generally deals with the handlings of starter cells offered by patients (or donors) as raw materials to cultured tissues as products, requiring the construction of novel ex vivo methodologies based on principles different from conventional processes for chemical and pharmaceutical productions. In addition, the raw materials have heterogeneity depending on the state of patients and location of cell harvests, and the products possess spatial cell distribution in the three dimensional structure. These features request a unique strategy in manufacturing process accompanied with the quality control for raw materials and products. This review article describes the contribution of tissue bankers and biochemical engineers to the quality control of cultured tissues during manufacturing, introducing the advances in methodologies to evaluate spatial heterogeneity of cells (or aggregates) and matrices in cultured tissues. Presented at the 1st International Consensus Meeting “New Horizons in Cell and Tissue Banking” on May 16–20, 2007 at Vale de Santarem, Portugal.