Recent advances of cellulose nanofiber-based materials in cell culture: From population to single-cell.

Cell culture techniques are evolving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional to simulate the microenvironment of cells in viv o. Nevertheless, due to the heterogeneity between cells, cell research is getting deeper down to the single cell level. Natural materials derived from animals, which are widely used today, have inherent problems, such as inhomogeneity between batches and viral contamination. Accordingly, it is imperative to find natural materials of non-animal origin as cell culture substrates. Cellulose, the most abundant sustainable resource on earth, has superiorities of reliable biocompatibility, low toxicity, homogeneity, and large-area functional groups, which shows great potential in biomedical engineering. Comparatively, they are still in the early stage of development. This paper therefore briefly reviewed the sources and basic properties of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and lists the latest advances in cell culture using CNFs-based materials. These applications have inspired the potential of CNFs-based materials for single-cell culture. [Display omitted] •This paper reviewed cellulose nanofiber-based materials for two- and three-dimensional cell culture. • Single-cell culture techniques on microfluidics were introduced from 2D to 3D. • We envisioned the potential of cellulose nanofiber-based materials for single-cell culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]