Structural Reinforcement of Cell-Laden Hydrogels with Microfabricated Three Dimensional Scaffolds.
Structural Reinforcement of Cell-Laden Hydrogels with Microfabricated Three Dimensional Scaffolds.
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DOI：
10.1039/c3bm60210a
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发表时间：
2014-05-01
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Khademhosseini A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cha C;Soman P;Zhu W;Nikkhah M;Camci-Unal G;Chen S;Khademhosseini A
组织工程中常用的水凝胶是机械柔软的，因此经常表现出结构上的弱点。在此，我们介绍了一种通过将三维（3D）微制造支架作为结构元件来增强细胞负载水凝胶的结构完整性和断裂韧性的策略。利用数字微镜装置投影打印（DMD-PP）系统，一种采用逐层立体光刻方法的快速成型技术，有效地制造了由光交联聚乙二醇二丙烯酸酯（PEGDA）制成的3D支架。通过将支架置于预凝胶溶液中，并诱导原位水凝胶形成，将其纳入光交联明胶水凝胶中。结果表明，支架增强水凝胶的极限应力显著增加，并为弱水凝胶提供了结构支撑。此外，支架不影响水凝胶的刚性，因为它不参与形成水凝胶的交联反应。因此，提出的方法可以避免无意和不希望的水凝胶刚性的变化，这是一个已知的细胞活动的调节。此外，通过评价包被成纤维细胞的活力和增殖能力，证实了支架增强水凝胶的生物相容性。总之，本研究提出的将3D支架加入水凝胶作为结构增强材料的策略将对提高水凝胶的机械韧性具有重要意义，可用于各种组织工程应用。
Hydrogels commonly used in tissue engineering are mechanically soft, thus often display structural weakness. Herein, we introduce a strategy for enhancing the structural integrity and fracture toughness of cell-laden hydrogels by incorporating a three-dimensional (3D) microfabricated scaffold as a structural element. A digital micromirror device projection printing (DMD-PP) system, a rapid prototyping technology which employs a layer-by-layer stereolithographic approach, was utilized to efficiently fabricate 3D scaffolds made from photocrosslinkable poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA). The scaffold was incorporated into a photocrosslinkable gelatin hydrogel by placing it in a pre-gel solution, and inducing in situ hydrogel formation. The resulting scaffold-reinforced hydrogels demonstrated significant increase in ultimate stress and provided structural support for weak hydrogels. In addition, the scaffold did not affect the rigidity of hydrogels, as it was not involved in the crosslinking reaction to form the hydrogel. Therefore, the presented approach could avoid inadvertent and undesired changes in the hydrogel rigidity which is a known regulator of cellular activities. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of scaffold-reinforced hydrogels was confirmed by evaluating the viability and proliferation of encapsulated fibroblasts. Overall, the strategy of incorporating 3D scaffolds into hydrogels as structural reinforcements presented in this study will be highly useful for enhancing the mechanical toughness of hydrogels for various tissue engineering applications.