Issue 10, 2020

Mechanical and physicochemical behavior of a 3D hydrogel scaffold during cell growth and proliferation

Abstract

Some of the essential properties for cellular scaffolding are the capability to maintain the three-dimensional (3D) structure, good adhesion, and adequate elastic modulus during cell growth, migration, and proliferation. Biocompatible synthetic hydrogels are commonly used as cellular scaffolds because they can mimic the natural extracellular matrices (ECMs). However, it is possible that the physicochemical and mechanical behavior of the scaffold changes during cell proliferation and loses the scaffold properties but this is rarely monitored. In this work, the physicochemical and mechanical properties of a macroporous soft material based on poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) have been studied during a period of 75 days at culture condition while bovine fetal fibroblasts (BFF) were grown within the matrix. The interconnected macroporous hydrogel was obtained by cryogelation at −18 °C. The swelling capacity of the scaffold was not altered during cell proliferation but changes in the mechanical properties were observed, beginning with the high elastic modulus (280 kPa) that progressively decreased until mechanical stability (40 kPa) was achieved after 20 culture days. It was observed that the matrix–cell interactions together with collagen production favor normal cellular processes such as cell morphology, adhesion, migration, and proliferation. Therefore, the observed behavior of macroporous PNIPAM as a 3D scaffold during cell growth indicates that the soft matrix is cytocompatible for a long time and preserves the suitable properties that can be applied in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Graphical abstract: Mechanical and physicochemical behavior of a 3D hydrogel scaffold during cell growth and proliferation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Okt 2019
Accepted
20 Jan 2020
First published
05 Feb 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 5827-5837

Mechanical and physicochemical behavior of a 3D hydrogel scaffold during cell growth and proliferation

R. E. Rivero, V. Capella, A. Cecilia Liaudat, P. Bosch, C. A. Barbero, N. Rodríguez and C. R. Rivarola, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 5827 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA08162C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements