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Cell Migration Regulated by Spatially Controlled Stiffness inside Composition‐Tunable Three‐Dimensional Dextran Hydrogels
Author(s) -
Yin Xi,
Zhu Xiaolu,
Wang Zheng
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced materials interfaces
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.671
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 2196-7350
DOI - 10.1002/admi.202100494
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , cell migration , stiffness , c2c12 , materials science , extracellular matrix , dextran , biophysics , myosin , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , myocyte , composite material , chemistry , biochemistry , polymer chemistry , biology , myogenesis
Stiffness of the extracellular matrix plays an important role in regulating cell migration. In this paper, two types of 3D dextran hydrogel, with the stiffness distributed homogeneously and heterogeneously in subcellular scales, have been designed and fabricated to serve as macromolecule scaffolds in which C2C12 cells, an immortalized mouse myoblast cell line, can migrate in a rationally controllable manner. The experimental results indicate that heterogeneous gels can support higher migration velocities, and effective supporting time‐stage for enhancing migration depended on the bulk stiffness that can be rationally and elaborately tuned. Moreover, migration velocity for both types of gels, in most cases, tends to decrease first and then increase from day 0 to day 6. These results show advantages for regulation of cell migration using this easy‐to‐implement heterogeneous cross‐linking approach. Further, associated principles regarding the relationship among cell migration, gel stiffness distribution, and expression of F‐actin and myosin II are also discussed. These studies support rational control of cell migration velocity in heterogeneously cross‐linked hydrogels that are widely applicable in biomaterial field.