Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Feb;33(2):167-179.
doi: 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2007.09.006.

Macromolecular Monomers for the Synthesis of Hydrogel Niches and Their Application in Cell Encapsulation and Tissue Engineering

Charles R Nuttelman  1 , Mark A Rice, Amber E Rydholm, Chelsea N Salinas, Darshita N Shah, Kristi S Anseth
Affiliations

Macromolecular Monomers for the Synthesis of Hydrogel Niches and Their Application in Cell Encapsulation and Tissue Engineering

Charles R Nuttelman et al. Prog Polym Sci. 2008 Feb.

Abstract

Hydrogels formed from the photoinitiated, solution polymerization of macromolecular monomers present distinct advantages as cell delivery materials and are enabling researchers to three-dimensionally encapsulate cells within diverse materials that mimic the extracellular matrix and support cellular viability. Approaches to synthesize gels with biophysically and biochemically controlled microenvironments are becoming increasingly important, and require strategies to control gel properties (e.g., degradation rate and mechanism) on multiple time and size scales. Furthermore, biological responses of gel-encapsulated cells can be promoted by hydrogel degradation products, as well as by the release of tethered biologically relevant molecules.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PEG-CAP-DM macromonomers (A) were photopolymerized to create a cross-linked hydrogel network (B). Shown is an ideal network in which crosslinks 3 and 6 have been enzymatically cleaved by exogenously added lipase. (C) Experimental mass loss data and calculated mass loss profiles (solid lines) for hydrogels synthesized from PEG-CAP-DM macromonomers and incubated in solutions with (a) 1.0 mg/ml, (b) 0.4 mg/ml, (c) 0.2 mg/ml, and (d) 0.1 mg/ml Lipase PS .
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A) Materials were created from the reaction of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(lactic acid)-diacrylate (PEG-PLA-DA) and pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (tetrathiol); (B) Conversion profiles of initiatorless photopolymerizations: (a) 100% PEG-PLA-diacrylate, light intensity = 5 mW/cm2, (b) 85 mol% PEG-PLA-diacrylate, 15 mol% tetrathiol, light intensity = 5 mW/cm2, (c) 85 mol% PEG-PLA-diacrylate, 15 mol% tetrathiol, light intensity = 50 mW/cm2; (C) Experimental mass loss profiles for degradable thiol-acrylate networks made from a PEG-PLA-DA and 10 (□), 30 (○), and 50 (△ ) mol% tetrathiol. (D) Pictorial representation of the initial monomer molecules, crosslinked polymer networks, and degradation products for materials formed from (a) chain-growth polymerization mechanism and (b) mixed-mode mechanism . (E) Encapsultion of human mesenchymal stem cells in PEG-peptide gels synthesized through the thiol-acrylate chemistry. Micrographs are from day 7 of culture of hMSCs encapsulated at a density of 5×106 cells/ml in gels formed from (a) PEG-DA and (b) PEG-DA with 5mM CRGDSG. The images are stained with LIVE/DEAD to differentiate living cells (gray) from dead (black), and illustrate the ability of the CRGDSG functionalized gels to promote hMSC survival. Scale bar=50μm.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
(A) Structure of methacrylated hyaluronic acid (HA). (B) Soluble HA fragments of low and high molecular weight (Mn¯) have profound effects on total ECM production, as measured by 1H-glycine incorporation at 3 days (striped bars) and 20 days (white bars). (C) Schematic showing structure and degradation products of HA-MA networks containing a high crosslinking density (a) or low crosslinking density (b) .
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
(A) Dexamethasone was covalently linked to a photoreactive poly(ethylene glycol) molecule through a degradable poly(lactide) bond [PEG526MMA-nLac-Suc-Dex, (a)] and incorporated into a hydrogel network through photopolymerization (b). Over time, dexamethasone is released from its insoluble, hydrogel-bound form (b) to a soluble form (c) where it is able to interact with cells and cause osteogenic differentiation of gel-encapsulated hMSCs. (B) Human MSCs were seeded on tissue culture plastic and cultured in the presence of control media (CON, top left), 100 nM dexamethasone (top right), and supernatant from dexamethasone that had been released from PEG-Dex hydrogels (bottom). (C) Human MSCs were photoencapsulated in PEG3400DA hydrogels (solid bars) containing 2.8 mM of a mono-acrylated cell adhesive sequence (Acryl-PEG-RGD), which promotes cell viability, and cultured in CON media or Dex media. Cells were also encapsulated in PEG3400DA hydrogels in the presence of PEG526MMA-4Lac-Suc-Dex and cultured in CON media (solid bar, “Released Dex”). After two weeks in culture, total mRNA was isolated and gene expression of core binding factor alpha (Cbfa1) was assessed using real-time RT-PCR. An asterisk denotes that results are significant when compared to CON results (p<0.05) .
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cruise GM, Hegre OD, Lamberti FV, Hager SR, Hill R, Scharp DS, Hubbell JA. In vitro and in vivo performance of porcine islets encapsulated in interfacially photopolymerized poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate membranes. Cell Transplant. 1999;8(3):293–306. - PubMed
    1. Elisseeff J, McIntosh W, Anseth K, Riley S, Ragan P, Langer R. Photoencapsulation of chondrocytes in poly(ethylene oxide)-based semi-interpenetrating networks. J Biomed Mater Res. 2000;51(2):164–71. - PubMed
    1. Fisher JP, Dean D, Engel PS, Mikos AG. Photoinitiated polymerization of biomaterials. Annual Review of Materials Research. 2001;31:171–181.
    1. Randolph MA, Anseth K, Yaremchuk MJ. Tissue engineering of cartilage. Clin Plast Surg. 2003;30(4):519–37. - PubMed
    1. Sittinger M, Hutmacher DW, Risbud MV. Current strategies for cell delivery in cartilage and bone regeneration. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2004;15(5):411–8. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources