Vitronectin Coated Culture Dishes: Defined Conditions for Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Vitronectin coating

Culturing human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) requires more than a supportive surface. It demands consistency, control, and clinical readiness. Vitronectin is commonly used for culturing hPSCs since vitronectin supports growth and differentiation of these stem cells.

Vitronectin is an extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein that promotes cell adhesion and survival via integrin binding. It plays a critical role in xeno-free, feeder-free culture systems, especially for labs cultivating embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). WPI’s Vitronectin-coated 35 mm FluoroDish™ with 23 mm glass bottom viewing window offers a biologically functional, imaging-optimized environment ideal for maintaining stem cells in their most pristine state.

What Is Vitronectin and How Does It Work?

Vitronectin binds to integrin receptors (notably αVβ3 and αVβ5), which are essential for stem cell attachment, spreading, and self-renewal. It supports feeder-free stem cell expansion, defined and xeno-free culture protocols, and cellular survival under chemically defined conditions.

Unlike undefined matrices like Matrigel, vitronectin is a single, recombinant protein, offering a high level of standardization and regulatory compliance for translational and GMP-aligned research.

Ideal Use Cases for Vitronectin-Coated Dishes

Vitronectin is an excellent choice when working with:

  • Human iPSCs or ESCs
  • Feeder-free systems (e.g., mTeSR1, Essential 8)
  • Differentiation protocols into ectoderm, mesoderm, or endoderm lineages
  • Organoid formation or seeding onto 3D Scaffolds

Its integrin-mediated signaling helps maintain pluripotency markers, supports tight colony morphology, and ensures repeatability across passages and batches.

Why Vitronectin and FluoroDish™ Are a Perfect Match

Stem cell culture often demands live-cell monitoring, colony morphology scoring, and precise imaging. WPI’s 35 mm FluoroDish™ with a 10 mm well is purpose-built for these tasks:

  • The optical-grade glass bottom provides non-fluorescent, distortion-free imaging, even with delicate stem cell colonies.
  • The central 10mm well focuses the culture area, reducing reagent costs and enabling high-NA objective compatibility.
  • The ultra-thin glass supports stable temperature regulation on warming plates, maintaining cell viability during observation.

This combination makes WPI’s vitronectin-coated FluoroDishes™ ideal for workflows where high quality microscopy imaging, sample and data consistency, and preserving resources by using less media are all desirable.

Applications in Research

Vitronectin-coated dishes are used in:

  • Pluripotent stem cell maintenance under defined conditions
  • Directed differentiation protocols
  • CRISPR-based editing of iPSCs
  • Colony morphology studies and imaging
  • Preclinical regenerative medicine workflows

These applications span stem cell biology, drug discovery, developmental modeling, and cell therapy pipeline development.

When to Choose Vitronectin

Select vitronectin when:

  • You need xeno-free, feeder-free compliance
  • Your media is fully defined and serum-free
  • You're working with pluripotent or early-lineage cells
  • Precision imaging and long-term culture performance are required

Available Configuration

WPI provides vitronectin coatings on 35 mm FluoroDish™ with a 10mm well, delivering a defined, biologically functional surface for imaging-intensive, high-stakes cell culture applications.

Up Next: Side-by-Side Comparison, Choosing the Right Surface for Your Cells

In our final post of this series, we’ll bring it all together with a practical comparison of all five coatings, highlighting which to use, when, and why. From short-term transfections to long-term neuronal cultures and defined stem cell systems, we’ll help you match your research needs to the ideal surface.

 

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