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    Self-glucose feeding hydrogels by enzyme empowered degradation for 3D cell culture
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    Abstract:
    Hydrogels have been used in combination with cells for several biomedical and biotechnological applications. Nevertheless, the use of bulk hydrogels has exhibited severe limitations in diffusion of oxygen, nutrients, and metabolites. Here, a support for cell culture is reported where glucose is generated in situ by the own hydrogel degradation, allowing cell survival and function while promoting tissue growth. For this purpose, laminaran (or laminarin)-based hydrogels were fabricated, immobilizing the adequate enzymes to obtain structural platforms for 3D cell culture and providing glucose feeding for metabolic activity of cells through polysaccharide degradation. We demonstrate that tumor A549 cells and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) can use the glucose resultant from the hydrogel degradation to survive and grow in non-added glucose cell culture medium. Additionally, in vivo biocompatibility and biodegradability of laminaran-based hydrogels were explored for the first time. The self-feeding hydrogels exhibited high potential in cell survival compared to native cell-laden laminaran hydrogels over two weeks of sub-cutaneous implantation. Such bioscaffolds with enzyme-empowered degradation capacity can be applied in diverse biotechnological contexts such as tissue regeneration devices, biofactories, disease models, and cell delivery systems.
    Keywords:
    Cell encapsulation
    Biocompatibility
    3D cell culture
    There is a growing realization that 3D cell culture better mimics complex in vivo environments than 2D, lessening aberrant cellular behaviors and ultimately improving the outcomes of experiments. Chemically crosslinked hydrogels which imitate natural extracellular matrix (ECM) are proven cell culture platforms, but the encapsulation of cells within these hydrogel networks requires bioorthogonal crosslinking chemistries which can be cytotoxic, synthetically demanding, and costly. Capsular antigen fragment 1 (Caf1) is a bacterial, polymeric, fimbrial protein which can be genetically engineered to imitate ECM. Furthermore, it can, reversibly, thermally interconvert between its polymeric and monomeric forms even when chemically crosslinked within a hydrogel network. It is demonstrated that this meltable feature of Caf1 hydrogels can be utilized to encapsulate neonatal human dermal fibroblasts at a range of cell densities (2 × 10
    3D cell culture
    Cell encapsulation
    Bioorthogonal Chemistry
    Citations (7)
    Cell printing is becoming a common technique to fabricate cellularized printed scaffold for biomedical application. There are still significant challenges in soft tissue bioprinting using hydrogels, which requires live cells inside the hydrogels. Moreover, the resilient mechanical properties from hydrogels are also required to mechanically mimic the native soft tissues. Herein, we developed a visible-light cross-linked, single-network, biodegradable hydrogel with high elasticity and flexibility for cell printing, which is different from previous highly elastic hydrogel with double-network and two components. The single-network hydrogel using only one stimulus (visible light) to trigger gelation can greatly simplify the cell printing process. The obtained hydrogels possessed high elasticity, and their mechanical properties can be tuned to match various native soft tissues. The hydrogels had good cell compatibility to support fibroblast growth in vitro. Various human cells were bioprinted with the hydrogels to form cell-gel constructs, in which the cells exhibited high viability after 7 days of culture. Complex patterns were printed by the hydrogels, suggesting the hydrogel feasibility for cell printing. We believe that this highly elastic, single-network hydrogel can be simply printed with different cell types, and it may provide a new material platform and a new way of thinking for hydrogel-based bioprinting research.
    Citations (102)
    It is well known that the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a vital role in the growth, survival and differentiation of cells. Though two-dimensional (2D) materials are generally used as substrates for the standard in vitro experiments, their mechanical, structural, and compositional characteristics can alter cell functions drastically. Many scientists reported that cells behave more natively when cultured in three-dimensional (3D) environments than on 2D substrates, due to the more in vivo-like 3D cell culture environment that can better mimic the biochemical and mechanical properties of the ECM. In this regard, water-swollen network polymer-based materials called hydrogels are highly attractive for developing 3D ECM analogs due to their biocompatibility and hydrophilicity. Since hydrogels can be tuned and altered systematically, these materials can function actively in a defined culture medium to support long-term self-renewal of various cells. The physico-chemical and biological properties of the materials used for developing hydrogel should be tunable in accordance with culture needs. Various types of hydrogels derived either from natural or synthetic origins are currently being used for cell culture applications. In this review, we present an overview of various hydrogels based on natural polymers that can be used for cell culture, irrespective of types of applications. We also explain how each hydrogel is made, its source, pros and cons in biological applications with a special focus on regenerative engineering.
    3D cell culture
    Biocompatibility
    Natural polymers
    Cell encapsulation
    Cell function
    Hydrogels have been used in combination with cells for several biomedical and biotechnological applications. Nevertheless, the use of bulk hydrogels has exhibited severe limitations in diffusion of oxygen, nutrients, and metabolites. Here, a support for cell culture is reported where glucose is generated in situ by the own hydrogel degradation, allowing cell survival and function while promoting tissue growth. For this purpose, laminaran (or laminarin)-based hydrogels were fabricated, immobilizing the adequate enzymes to obtain structural platforms for 3D cell culture and providing glucose feeding for metabolic activity of cells through polysaccharide degradation. We demonstrate that tumor A549 cells and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) can use the glucose resultant from the hydrogel degradation to survive and grow in non-added glucose cell culture medium. Additionally, in vivo biocompatibility and biodegradability of laminaran-based hydrogels were explored for the first time. The self-feeding hydrogels exhibited high potential in cell survival compared to native cell-laden laminaran hydrogels over two weeks of sub-cutaneous implantation. Such bioscaffolds with enzyme-empowered degradation capacity can be applied in diverse biotechnological contexts such as tissue regeneration devices, biofactories, disease models, and cell delivery systems.
    Cell encapsulation
    Biocompatibility
    3D cell culture
    Citations (20)
    Synthetic hydrogels have been widely adopted as well-defined matrices for three-dimensional (3D) cell culture, with increasing interest in systems that enable the co-culture of multiple cell types for probing both cell–matrix and cell–cell interactions in studies of tissue regeneration and disease. We hypothesized that the unique dynamic covalent chemistry of self-healing hydrogels could be harnessed for not only the encapsulation and culture of human cells but also the subsequent construction of layered hydrogels for 3D co-cultures. To test this, we formed hydrogels using boronic acid-functionalized polymers and demonstrated their self-healing in the presence of physiologically relevant cell culture media. Two model human cell lines, MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and CCL151 pulmonary fibroblasts, were encapsulated within these dynamic materials, and good viability was observed over time. Finally, self-healing of cut hydrogel "blocks" laden with these different cell types was used to create layered hydrogels for the generation of a dynamic co-culture system. This work demonstrates the utility of self-healing materials for multidimensional cultures and establishes approaches broadly useful for a variety of biological applications.
    3D cell culture
    Cell encapsulation
    Boronic acid
    Citations (147)
    Hydrogels are frequently utilized as three-dimensional matrices for the culture and regeneration of soft tissues, but one challenge with the existing hydrogels is that, though the natural extracellular matrix of tissues may be ordered, there are few biocompatible ways to incorporate anisotropy within hydrogels. Liquid crystalline (LC) polymers are well suited for this because of their combination of molecular ordering and polymer elasticity; however, the hydrophobic nature of LC monomers has hindered their polymerization into hydrogels under cytocompatible conditions. This work reports on the generation of main-chain LC hydrogels in aqueous media and the ability of LC phases to affect mesenchymal stem cell behavior. The synthesis results in high gel fraction materials, and calorimetry, thermomechanical analysis, and X-ray scattering show that the networks organize into LC phases in the dry and hydrogel states. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) cultured within the hydrogels show excellent viability, and hMSC proliferation proceeds at a faster rate in LC hydrogels compared to non-LC hydrogels. TThe result is a new synthetic approach for calamitic liquid crystalline hydrogels, which support the encapsulation and culture of human stem cells and are expected to enable applications as anisotropic and responsive substrates for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
    Cell encapsulation
    3D cell culture