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Microengineered PEG Hydrogels: 3D Scaffolds for Guided Cell Growth
Author(s) -
Schulte Vera A.,
Alves Dora F.,
Dalton Paul P.,
Moeller Martin,
Lensen Marga C.,
Mela Petra
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201200376
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , tissue engineering , regenerative medicine , nanotechnology , peg ratio , materials science , scaffold , chemistry , biophysics , biomedical engineering , cell , polymer chemistry , engineering , biology , biochemistry , finance , economics
Designing three‐dimensional (3D) scaffolds for selective manipulation of cell growth is of high relevance for applications in regenerative medicine. Especially, scaffolds with oriented morphologies bear high potential to guide the restoration of specific tissues. The fabrication of hydrogel scaffolds that support long‐term survival, proliferation, and unidirectional growth of embedded cells is presented here. Parallel channel structures are introduced into the bulk hydrogels by uniaxial freezing, providing stable, and uniform porosity suitable for cell invasion (pore diameters of 5–15 µm). In vitro assessment of the scaffolds with murine fibroblasts (NIH L929) shows a remarkable unidirectional movement along the channels, with the cells traveling several millimeters through the hydrogel.