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Thermoresponsive Inverted Colloidal Crystal Hydrogel Scaffolds for Lymphoid Tissue Engineering
Author(s) -
Kwak JunGoo,
Lee Jungwoo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced healthcare materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.288
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 2192-2659
pISSN - 2192-2640
DOI - 10.1002/adhm.201901556
Subject(s) - stromal cell , materials science , self healing hydrogels , haematopoiesis , scaffold , colloidal crystal , tissue engineering , nanotechnology , stem cell , chemistry , biomedical engineering , colloid , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer research , polymer chemistry , biology , medicine
Inverted colloidal crystal (ICC) hydrogel scaffolds represent unique opportunities in modeling lymphoid tissues and expanding hematopoietic‐lymphoid cells. Fully interconnected spherical pore arrays direct the formation of stromal networks and facilitate interactions between stroma and hematopoietic‐lymphoid cells. However, due to the intricate architecture of these materials, release of expanded cells is restricted and requires mechanical disruption or chemical dissolution of the hydrogel scaffold. One potent biomaterials strategy to release pore‐entrapped hematopoietic‐lymphoid cells without breaking the scaffolds apart is to transiently increase the dimensions of these materials using stimuli‐responsive polymers. Having this mindset, thermoresponsive ICC scaffolds that undergo rapid (<1 min) and substantial (>300%) diameter change over a physiological temperature range (4–37 °C) by using poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) with nanogel crosslinkers is developed. For a proof‐of‐concept study, the stromal niche by creating osteospheroids, aggregates of osteoblasts, and bone chips is first replicated, and subsequently Nalm‐6 model hematopoietic‐lymphoid cells are introduced. A sixfold increase in cell count is harvested when ICC hydrogel scaffolds are expanded without termination of the established 3D stromal cell culture. It is envisioned that thermoresponsive ICC hydrogel scaffolds will enable for scalable and sustainable ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic‐lymphoid cells.