Hydrogels are increasingly employed as multidimensional cell culture platforms often with a necessity that they respond to or control the cellular environment. Specifically, synthetic hydrogels, such ...as poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)‐based gels, are frequently utilized for probing the microenvironment's influence on cell function, as the gel properties can be precisely controlled in space and time. Synthetically tunable parameters, such as monomer structure and concentration, facilitate initial gel property control, while incorporation of responsive degradable units enables cell‐ and/or user‐directed degradation. Such responsive gel systems are complex with dynamic changes occurring over multiple time‐scales, and cells encapsulated in these synthetic hydrogels often experience and dictate local property changes profoundly different from those in the bulk material. Consequently, advances in bulk and local measurement techniques are needed to monitor property evolution quantatively and understand its effect on cell function. Here, recent progress in cell‐responsive PEG hydrogel synthesis and mechanical property characterization is reviewed.
Hydrogels are increasingly employed as cell culture platforms, often with a necessity that they respond to or control the cellular environment. Gel properties, such as crosslinking density (ρx) and modulus (E), can be precisely controlled in space and time and can dictate cell morphology, cytoskeletal organization, and function; quantifying the evolving mechanical properties of these gel systems is important.
Photolabile moieties have been utilized in applications ranging from peptide synthesis and controlled protein activation to tunable and dynamic materials. The photochromic properties of nitrobenzyl ...(NB) based linkers are readily tuned to respond to cytocompatible light doses and are widely utilized in cell culture and other biological applications. While widely utilized, little is known about how the microenvironment, particularly confined aqueous environments (e.g., hydrogels), affects both the mode and rate of cleavage of NB moieties, leading to unpredictable limitations in control over system properties (e.g., rapid hydrolysis or slow photolysis). To address these challenges, we synthesized and characterized the photolysis and hydrolysis of NB moieties containing different labile bonds (i.e., ester, amide, carbonate, or carbamate) that served as labile crosslinks within step-growth hydrogels. We observed that NB ester bond exhibited significant rates of both photolysis and hydrolysis, whereas, importantly, the NB carbamate bond had superior light responsiveness and resistance to hydrolysis within the hydrogel microenvironment. Exploiting this synergy and orthogonality of photolytic and hydrolytic degradation, we designed concentric cylinder hydrogels loaded with different cargoes (e.g., model protein with different fluorophores) for either combinatorial or sequential release, respectively. Overall, this work provides new facile chemical approaches for tuning the degradability of NB linkers and an innovative strategy for the construction of multimodal degradable hydrogels, which can be utilized to guide the design of not only tunable materials platforms but also controlled synthetic protocols or surface modification strategies.
Degradable and cell-compatible hydrogels can be designed to mimic the physical and biochemical characteristics of native extracellular matrices and provide tunability of degradation rates and related ...properties under physiological conditions. Hence, such hydrogels are finding widespread application in many bioengineering fields, including controlled bioactive molecule delivery, cell encapsulation for controlled three-dimensional culture, and tissue engineering. Cellular processes, such as adhesion, proliferation, spreading, migration, and differentiation, can be controlled within degradable, cell-compatible hydrogels with temporal tuning of biochemical or biophysical cues, such as growth factor presentation or hydrogel stiffness. However, thoughtful selection of hydrogel base materials, formation chemistries, and degradable moieties is necessary to achieve the appropriate level of property control and desired cellular response. In this review, hydrogel design considerations and materials for hydrogel preparation, ranging from natural polymers to synthetic polymers, are overviewed. Recent advances in chemical and physical methods to crosslink hydrogels are highlighted, as well as recent developments in controlling hydrogel degradation rates and modes of degradation. Special attention is given to spatial or temporal presentation of various biochemical and biophysical cues to modulate cell response in static (
i.e.
, non-degradable) or dynamic (
i.e.
, degradable) microenvironments. This review provides insight into the design of new cell-compatible, degradable hydrogels to understand and modulate cellular processes for various biomedical applications.
This
review
provides insight into emerging degradable and cell-compatible hydrogels for understanding and modulating cell behavior for various bioengineering applications.
We report a strategy to create photodegradable poly(ethylene glycol)-based hydrogels through rapid polymerization of cytocompatible macromers for remote manipulation of gel properties in situ. ...Postgelation control of the gel properties was demonstrated to introduce temporal changes, creation of arbitrarily shaped features, and on-demand pendant functionality release. Channels photodegraded within a hydrogel containing encapsulated cells allow cell migration. Temporal variation of the biochemical gel composition was used to influence chondrogenic differentiation of encapsulated stem cells. Photodegradable gels that allow real-time manipulation of material properties or chemistry provide dynamic environments with the scope to answer fundamental questions about material regulation of live cell function and may affect an array of applications from design of drug delivery vehicles to tissue engineering systems.
Hydrogel-based depots are of growing interest for release of biopharmaceuticals; however, a priori selection of hydrogel compositions that will retain proteins of interest and provide desired release ...profiles remains elusive. Toward addressing this, in this work, we have established a new tool for the facile assessment of protein release from hydrogels and applied it to evaluate the effectiveness of mesh size estimations on predicting protein retention or release. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel depots were formed by photoinitiated step growth polymerization of four-arm PEG functionalized with norbornene (PEG-norbornene, 4% w/w to 20% w/w, M n ∼ 5 to 20 kDa) and different dithiol cross-linkers (PEG M n ∼ 1.5 kDa or enzymatically degradable peptide), creating well-defined, robust materials with a range of mesh sizes estimated with Flory–Rehner or rubber elasticity theory (∼5 to 15 nm). A cocktail of different model proteins was released from compositions of interest, and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to facilely and quantitatively analyze temporal release profiles. Mesh size was predictive of retention of relatively large proteins and release of relatively small proteins. Proteins with diameters comparable to the mesh size, which is often the case for growth factors, were released by hindered diffusion and required experimental assessment of retention and release. With this knowledge, hydrogels were designed for the controlled release of a therapeutically relevant growth factor, PDGF-BB.
Injectable depots that respond to exogenous and endogenous stimuli present an attractive strategy for tunable, patient-specific drug delivery. Here, the design of injectable and multimodal degradable ...hydrogels that respond to externally applied light and physiological stimuli, specifically aqueous and reducing microenvironments, is reported. Rapid hydrogel formation was achieved using a thiol-maleimide click reaction between multifunctional poly(ethylene glycol) macromers. Hydrogel degradation kinetics in response to externally applied cytocompatible light, reducing conditions, and hydrolysis were characterized, and degradation of the gel was controlled over multiple time scales from seconds to days. Further, tailored release of an encapsulated model cargo, fluorescent nanobeads, was demonstrated.
Fibroblasts residing in connective tissues throughout the body are responsible for extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis and repair. In response to tissue damage, they activate to become ...myofibroblasts, which have organized contractile cytoskeletons and produce a myriad of proteins for ECM remodeling. However, persistence of myofibroblasts can lead to fibrosis with excessive collagen deposition and tissue stiffening. Thus, understanding which signals regulate de-activation of myofibroblasts during normal tissue repair is critical. Substrate modulus has recently been shown to regulate fibrogenic properties, proliferation and apoptosis of fibroblasts isolated from different organs. However, few studies track the cellular responses of fibroblasts to dynamic changes in the microenvironmental modulus. Here, we utilized a light-responsive hydrogel system to probe the fate of valvular myofibroblasts when the Young's modulus of the substrate was reduced from ~32 kPa, mimicking pre-calcified diseased tissue, to ~7 kPa, mimicking healthy cardiac valve fibrosa. After softening the substrata, valvular myofibroblasts de-activated with decreases in α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) stress fibers and proliferation, indicating a dormant fibroblast state. Gene signatures of myofibroblasts (including α-SMA and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF)) were significantly down-regulated to fibroblast levels within 6 hours of in situ substrate elasticity reduction while a general fibroblast gene vimentin was not changed. Additionally, the de-activated fibroblasts were in a reversible state and could be re-activated to enter cell cycle by growth stimulation and to express fibrogenic genes, such as CTGF, collagen 1A1 and fibronectin 1, in response to TGF-β1. Our data suggest that lowering substrate modulus can serve as a cue to down-regulate the valvular myofibroblast phenotype resulting in a predominantly quiescent fibroblast population. These results provide insight in designing hydrogel substrates with physiologically relevant stiffness to dynamically redirect cell fate in vitro.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We describe a detailed procedure to create photolabile, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogels and manipulate material properties in situ. The cytocompatible chemistry and degradation process ...enable dynamic, tunable changes for applications in two-dimensional (2D) or 3D cell culture. The materials are created by synthesizing an o-nitrobenzylether-based photodegradable monomer that can be coupled to primary amines. In this study, we provide coupling procedures to PEG-bis-amine to form a photodegradable cross-linker or to the fibronectin-derived peptide RGDS to form a photoreleasable tether. Hydrogels are synthesized with the photodegradable cross-linker in the presence or absence of cells, allowing direct encapsulation or seeding on surfaces. Cell-material interactions can be probed in 2D or 3D by spatiotemporally controlling the gel microenvironment, which allows unique experiments to be performed to monitor cell response to changes in their niche. Degradation is readily achieved with cytocompatible wavelengths of low-intensity flood irradiation (365-420 nm) in minutes or with high-intensity laser irradiation (405 nm) in seconds. In this protocol, synthesis and purification of photodegradable monomers take approximately 2 weeks, but the process can be substantially shortened by purchasing the o-nitrobenzylether precursor. Preparation of sterile solutions for hydrogel fabrication takes hours, whereas the reaction to form the final hydrogel is complete in minutes. Hydrogel degradation occurs on demand, in seconds to minutes, with user-directed light exposure. This comprehensive protocol is useful for controlling peptide presentation and substrate modulus during cell culture on or within an elastic matrix. These PEG-based materials are useful for probing the dynamic influence of cell-cell and cell-material interactions on cell function in 2D or 3D. Although other protocols are available for controlling peptide presentation or modulus, few allow manipulation of material properties in situ and in the presence of cells down to the micrometer scale.
The relationship between polymeric hydrogel microstructure and macroscopic properties is of specific interest to the materials science and polymer science communities for the rational design of ...materials for targeted applications. Specifically, research has focused on elucidating the role of network formation and connectivity on mechanical integrity and degradation behavior. Here, we compared the mechanical properties of chain- and step-polymerized, photodegradable hydrogels. Increased ductility, tensile toughness, and shear strain to yield were observed in step-polymerized hydrogels, as compared to the chain-polymerized gels, indicating that increased homogeneity and network cooperativity in the gel backbone improves mechanical integrity. Furthermore, the ability to degrade the hydrogels in a controlled fashion with light was exploited to explore how hydrogel microstructure influences photodegradation and erosion. Here, the decreased network connectivity at the junction points in the step-polymerized gels resulted in more rapid erosion. Finally, a relationship between the reverse gelation threshold and erosion rate was developed for the general class of photodegradable hydrogels. In all, these studies further elucidate the relationship between hydrogel formation and microarchitecture with macroscale behavior to facilitate the future design of polymer networks and degradable hydrogels, as well as photoresponsive materials such as cell culture templates, drug delivery vehicles, responsive coatings, and anisotropic materials.
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