Issue 20, 2016

Nanoengineered biomimetic hydrogels for guiding human stem cell osteogenesis in three dimensional microenvironments

Abstract

The ability to modulate stem cell differentiation in a three dimensional (3D) microenvironment for bone tissue engineering in the absence of exogenous pharmaceutical agents such as bone morphogenic protein (BMP-2) remains a challenge. In this study, we introduce extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking nanocomposite hydrogels to induce the osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) for bone regeneration in the absence of any osteoinductive factors. In particular, we have reinforced a photocrosslinkable collagen-based matrix (gelatin methacryloyl, GelMA) using disk-shaped nanosilicates (nSi), a new class of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. We show that nanoengineered hydrogels supported the migration and proliferation of encapsulated hMSCs, with no signs of cell apoptosis or inflammatory cytokine responses. The addition of nSi significantly enhances the osteogenic differentiation of encapsulated hMSCs as evident from the increase in alkaline phosphates (ALP) activity and the deposition of a biomineralized matrix compared to GelMA. We also show that microfabricated nanoengineered microgels can be used to pattern and control cellular behaviour. Furthermore, we demonstrate that nanoengineered hydrogel have high biocompatibility as determined by in vivo experiments using an immunocompetent rat model. Specifically, the hydrogels showed minimum localized immune responses, indicating their ability for tissue engineering applications. Overall, we showed the ability of nanoengineered hydrogels loaded with 2D nanosilicates for the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells in vitro, in the absence of any growth factors such as BMP-2. Our in vivo studies show high biocompatibility of nanocomposites and show the potential for growth factor free bone regeneration.

Graphical abstract: Nanoengineered biomimetic hydrogels for guiding human stem cell osteogenesis in three dimensional microenvironments

  • This article is part of the themed collection: Stem Cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Dec. 2015
Accepted
02 Febr. 2016
First published
04 Febr. 2016

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016,4, 3544-3554

Nanoengineered biomimetic hydrogels for guiding human stem cell osteogenesis in three dimensional microenvironments

A. Paul, V. Manoharan, D. Krafft, A. Assmann, J. A. Uquillas, S. R. Shin, A. Hasan, M. A. Hussain, A. Memic, A. K. Gaharwar and A. Khademhosseini, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2016, 4, 3544 DOI: 10.1039/C5TB02745D

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