Premium
Self‐Orienting Hydrogel Micro‐Buckets as Novel Cell Carriers
Author(s) -
Liu Qian,
Zhao Meng,
Mytnyk Serhii,
Klemm Benjamin,
Zhang Kai,
Wang Yiming,
Yan Dadong,
Mendes Eduardo,
van Esch Jan H.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201811374
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , nanotechnology , tissue engineering , materials science , biophysics , orientation (vector space) , biomedical engineering , polymer chemistry , biology , medicine , geometry , mathematics
Abstract Hydrogel microparticles are important in materials engineering, but their applications remain limited owing to the difficulties associated with their manipulation. Herein, we report the self‐orientation of crescent‐shaped hydrogel microparticles and elucidate its mechanism. Additionally, the microparticles were used, for the first time, as micro‐buckets to carry living cells. In aqueous solution, the microparticles spontaneously rotated to a preferred orientation with the cavity facing up. We developed a geometric model that explains the self‐orienting behavior of crescent‐shaped particles by minimizing the potential energy of this specific morphology. Finally, we selectively modified the particles’ cavities with RGD peptide and exploited their preferred orientation to load them with living cells. Cells could adhere, proliferate, and be transported and released in vitro. These micro‐buckets hold a great potential for applications in smart materials, cell therapy, and biological engineering.