Premium
How Stiff Is It? Characterizing the micro‐scale elastic modulus of hydrogels for use in regenerative medicine
Author(s) -
Markert Chad D.,
Guo Xinyi,
Skardal Aleksander,
Bharadwaj Shantaram,
Zhang Yuanyuan,
Bonin Keith,
Guthold Martin
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1217.21
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , agarose , biomedical engineering , fibrin , elastic modulus , chemistry , regenerative medicine , indentation , biophysics , elasticity (physics) , nanotechnology , hyaluronic acid , biomaterial , materials science , tissue engineering , polyethylene glycol , composite material , anatomy , polymer chemistry , biochemistry , cell , medicine , immunology , biology
Previous research has indicated that the material properties of the cellular microenvironment modulate the developmental fate of stem cells: stem cells grown on soft surfaces tended to adopt a neuronal fate, while cells grown on hard surfaces tended towards an osteoblast phenotype. Our objective was to characterize the elasticity of hydrogel formulations intended to mimic physical properties that cells and tissues experience in vivo . We approached this objective with atomic force microscopy (AFM) indentation experiments, using a 5.3 micron sphere attached to the probe. We tested a variety of concentrations in a variety of biomaterials, including agarose, alginate, the collagens, fibrin, hyaluronic acid, keratin, Matrigel, and polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA). Manipulations of the concentration of biomaterials were detectable in AFM measurements as a function of elasticity E , and E tended to increase with increased concentration. Depending on the biomaterials chosen, and their concentrations, generation of tunable biocompatible hydrogels in the physiologic range is possible.