Publicação
Fabrication of bicontinuous microporous hydrogels using aqueous emulsion templating
| Resumo: | The composition and interconnected microporosity of the extracellular matrix (ECM) play crucial roles in establishing cellular fate and function, as well as allowing cells to migrate through it, interact, and organize into functional tissues. Conventional hydrogels typically consist of nanoporous networks that confine encapsulated cells restricting their motility, interactions, and diffusion of nutrients, signaling compounds and perhaps most importantly, oxygen hindering their utility in tissue engineering. It is therefore of utmost importance to approach current hydrogels with respect to composition and microstructure to the natural and tissue specific ECMs as to maximize control over cell fate, the functionality and bio-relevance of engineered tissues. It is also important to improve the perfusability of hydrogels to improve on scaffold oxygenation limitations and thus allow for the culture of larger human scaled tissues. Gelatin is a widely available biopolymer that retains many of the structural and biochemical cues of collagen, the main component of the ECM. Hyaluronic acid has been gathering increased attention due to its ubiquitous presence in human ECMs and its crucial role in pathologies such as cancer. When combined Gelatin and Hyaluronic acid integrate a bioactive, cell adherable and degradable scaffold that can serve as a simplified and inexpensive stand-in for ECM. This project aims to develop a tunable bioprintable interconnected microporous GelMA-HAMA hydrogel bioink by exploring GelMA’s ability to form all-aqueous, and thus cell friendly, immiscible phases with porogen solutions of Polyethylene-Oxide and Xanthan gum. A novel method of pre-gel and porogen mixing was developed allowing fine control over the hydrogel microstructure, high levels of pore interconnectivity and porosities approaching 70%. The developed inks were further leveraged to produce highly perfusable hydrogels capable of supporting good cell proliferation and biocompatibility. |
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| Autores principais: | Fernandes, Hugo Edgar Vilar |
| Assunto: | Interconnected microporous hydrogels Emulsion templating ATPS GelMA HAMA |
| Ano: | 2023 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Aveiro |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RIA - Repositório Institucional da Universidade de Aveiro |
| Resumo: | The composition and interconnected microporosity of the extracellular matrix (ECM) play crucial roles in establishing cellular fate and function, as well as allowing cells to migrate through it, interact, and organize into functional tissues. Conventional hydrogels typically consist of nanoporous networks that confine encapsulated cells restricting their motility, interactions, and diffusion of nutrients, signaling compounds and perhaps most importantly, oxygen hindering their utility in tissue engineering. It is therefore of utmost importance to approach current hydrogels with respect to composition and microstructure to the natural and tissue specific ECMs as to maximize control over cell fate, the functionality and bio-relevance of engineered tissues. It is also important to improve the perfusability of hydrogels to improve on scaffold oxygenation limitations and thus allow for the culture of larger human scaled tissues. Gelatin is a widely available biopolymer that retains many of the structural and biochemical cues of collagen, the main component of the ECM. Hyaluronic acid has been gathering increased attention due to its ubiquitous presence in human ECMs and its crucial role in pathologies such as cancer. When combined Gelatin and Hyaluronic acid integrate a bioactive, cell adherable and degradable scaffold that can serve as a simplified and inexpensive stand-in for ECM. This project aims to develop a tunable bioprintable interconnected microporous GelMA-HAMA hydrogel bioink by exploring GelMA’s ability to form all-aqueous, and thus cell friendly, immiscible phases with porogen solutions of Polyethylene-Oxide and Xanthan gum. A novel method of pre-gel and porogen mixing was developed allowing fine control over the hydrogel microstructure, high levels of pore interconnectivity and porosities approaching 70%. The developed inks were further leveraged to produce highly perfusable hydrogels capable of supporting good cell proliferation and biocompatibility. |
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