Injectable hydrogels with phase-separated structures that can encapsulate live cells
Injectable hydrogels with phase-separated structures that can encapsulate live cells
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具有可封装活细胞的相分离结构的可注射水凝胶
DOI：
10.1101/2022.01.31.478579
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
and T. Sakai.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Ishikawa;Y. Yoshikawa;H. Kamata;U. Chung;and T. Sakai.
可注射水凝胶是可以以液体形式微创施用的生物材料，并且被认为是有前途的人工细胞外基质（ECM）材料。然而，普通的可注射水凝胶是由水溶性分子合成的，以确保可注射性，导致非相分离的结构，使它们在结构上不同于具有相分离的不溶性结构蛋白质（如胶原蛋白和弹性蛋白）的天然ECM。在这里，我们提出了一个简单的材料设计方法，赋予相分离的结构，通过添加无机盐的可注射水凝胶。以最佳浓度注射可相互交联的四臂聚（乙二醇）与硫酸钾的胶凝溶液导致原位形成具有相分离结构的水凝胶。这些相分离的结构提供高达8倍的断裂韧性增加，同时允许封装活的小鼠软骨细胞而不损害其增殖活性。我们的研究结果强调，无机盐的浓度是一个重要的设计参数，在人工ECM注射水凝胶。
Injectable hydrogels are biomaterials that can be administered minimally invasively in liquid form, and are considered promising artificial extracellular matrix (ECM) materials. However, ordinary injectable hydrogels are synthesized from water-soluble molecules to ensure injectability, resulting in nonphase-separated structures, making them structurally different from natural ECMs with phase-separated insoluble structural proteins, such as collagen and elastin. Here, we propose a simple material design approach to impart phase-separated structures to injectable hydrogels by adding inorganic salts. Injecting a gelling solution of mutually crosslinkable tetra-arm poly(ethylene glycol)s with potassium sulfate at optimal concentrations results in the formation of a hydrogel with phase-separated structures in situ. These phase-separated structures provide up to an 8-fold increase in fracture toughness while allowing the encapsulation of live mouse chondrogenic cells without compromising their proliferative activity. Our findings highlight that the concentration of inorganic salts is an important design parameter in injectable hydrogels for artificial ECMs.