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Chemically crosslinked gelatin hydrogels as scaffolding materials for adipose tissue engineering
Author(s) -
Contessi Negrini N.,
Tarsini P.,
Tanzi M. C.,
Farè S.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.47104
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , gelatin , tissue engineering , scaffold , materials science , adipose tissue , swelling , regeneration (biology) , biomedical engineering , chemical engineering , biophysics , chemistry , polymer chemistry , composite material , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , biology , engineering
ABSTRACT The design of scaffolding materials that mimic the properties of the target tissue to be regenerated is a mandatory requirement to engineer a successful scaffold; however, the heterogeneous properties of adipose tissue (AT), strictly dependent on the AT depot, are often underestimated when engineering AT scaffolds. Moreover, a scaffolding material with versatile properties, suitable for the regeneration of different AT depots, is currently missing. Chemically crosslinked gelatin hydrogels are here prepared, and their properties tuned by varying gelatin concentration and reaction stoichiometry to obtain hydrogels suitable for AT regeneration. All hydrogel formulations are stable in water at 37 °C, showing swelling behavior dependent on synthesis parameters. The mechanical compressive response mimics the viscoelastic response typical of native AT, with elastic modulus values covering the range of breast and heel pad AT. The rheological properties vary among the hydrogel formulations, showing a typical shear thinning response, comparable to other AT scaffolds described in literature. In vitro cytotoxicity tests using 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes show no cytotoxic effects up to 7 days. 3T3‐L1 cells seeded on the hydrogels show good adhesion, proliferation, and adipogenic differentiation, confirmed by an increase in peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma gene expression and lipid droplets accumulation observed by Oil Red O staining. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 47104.