Titanium culture vessel capable of controlling culture temperature for evaluation of cell thermotolerance

Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemical therapy have been reported as main treatments for cancer that is one of the worst diseases reported. However, because of high invasiveness on patients, cancer hyperthermia has been studied as non-invasive treatment. Hyperthermia uses a difference of thermal tolerance between normal and cancer cells and gives an affected part thermal stimulation to kill cancer cells selectively. For developing effective conditions of hyperthermia, in vitro study to evaluate the thermal tolerance have been required. However, since existing cell culture vessels cannot control the culture temperature, genuine thermal tolerance of cells cannot be investigated appropriately. To reveal critical temperature proper for hyperthermia, we developed a culture device controlling culture temperature. With the developed device, culture temperature was regulated far more quickly than conventional method with existing vessels, which enable us to study the thermal tolerance of cells appropriately. For the control of culture temperature, the device has a titanium culture substrate where a peltier element adhered. Since a biocompatibility of the device was confirmed, a difference of thermal tolerance between normal and cancer cells was, then, investigated with the developed device by using Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts and Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 as model cell species. As a result, it was confirmed that cancer cells were more sensitive to thermal stimulation than normal cells, which was qualitatively consistent with previous researches. Thus, we conclude our developed device can be used for investigation of thermal tolerance of each cell specie, which will contribute for the development of cancer hyperthermia.