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Synthesis of stiffness‐tunable and cell‐responsive Gelatin–poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogel for three‐dimensional cell encapsulation
Author(s) -
Cao Ye,
Lee Bae Hoon,
Peled Havazelet Bianco,
Venkatraman Subbu S.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.35779
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , gelatin , ethylene glycol , materials science , cell encapsulation , peg ratio , chemical engineering , reagent , dynamic mechanical analysis , tissue engineering , polymer chemistry , viability assay , biophysics , cell , biomedical engineering , composite material , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , biochemistry , medicine , finance , biology , engineering , economics
Biosynthetic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐based hydrogels have been extensively investigated as extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking gels as they retain the benefits of both ECM (biological cues) and synthetic hydrogels (tunable mechanical properties). In this article, we developed and characterized a new gelatin–PEG (GP) hydrogel that retains the benefits of gelatin and synthetic hydrogels. In this strategy, the thiolation of gelatin was accomplished by reacting with Traut's reagent; the thiolated gelatin was then conjugated to one end of PEG diacrylate (PEGDA) by Michael‐type addition reaction. Two kinds of GP precursors, GP30 and GP60, were synthesized by changing the amount of Traut's reagent, while the weight ratio between thiolated‐gelatin and PEGDA of GP30 and GP60 was 1.451:1 and 0.785:1, respectively. Finally, neonatal human dermal fibroblasts were encapsulated into the hydrogel by cross‐linking the remaining double bonds of precursor under ultraviolet light. These GP hydrogels can encapsulate the fibroblasts in situ with high cell viability. Moreover, the behaviors of cells within the GP hydrogels can be modulated by varying the cross‐linking density of GP hydrogel (storage modulus from 40 to 2000 Pa). In particular, this article showed that a minimum amount of cell‐binding motifs (gelatin >2.30 wt/vol % and 44.0% dry weight percentage) are required for attachment; and appropriate initial rheological and structural properties (storage modulus <∼100 Pa and mesh size >∼150 nm) can accelerate the attachment of cells and improve cell viability. Hence, this mixed‐hydrogel platform allows an easily control hydrogel structure and modulates cell behavior to reconstruct new tissue in the three‐dimensional microenvironments. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 2401–2411, 2016.