Issue 7, 2021

Guest–host interlinked PEG-MAL granular hydrogels as an engineered cellular microenvironment

Abstract

We report the development of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel scaffold that provides the advantages of conventional bulk PEG hydrogels for engineering cellular microenvironments and allows for rapid cell migration. PEG microgels were used to assemble a densely packed granular system with an intrinsic interstitium-like negative space. In this material, guest–host molecular interactions provide reversible non-covalent linkages between discrete PEG microgel particles to form a cohesive bulk material. In guest–host chemistry, different guest molecules reversibly and non-covalently interact with their cyclic host molecules. Two species of PEG microgels were made, each with one functional group at the end of the four arm PEG-MAL functionalized using thiol click chemistry. The first was functionalized with the host molecule β-cyclodextrin, a cyclic oligosaccharide of repeating D-glucose units, and the other functionalized with the guest molecule adamantane. These two species provide a reversible guest–host interaction between microgel particles when mixed, generating an interlinked network with a percolated interstitium. We showed that this granular configuration, unlike conventional bulk PEG hydrogels, enabled the rapid migration of THP-1 monocyte cells. The guest–host microgels also exhibited shear-thinning behavior, providing a unique advantage over current bulk PEG hydrogels.

Graphical abstract: Guest–host interlinked PEG-MAL granular hydrogels as an engineered cellular microenvironment

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
04 sep 2020
Accepted
17 dec 2020
First published
28 dec 2020

Biomater. Sci., 2021,9, 2480-2493

Author version available

Guest–host interlinked PEG-MAL granular hydrogels as an engineered cellular microenvironment

A. E. Widener, M. Bhatta, T. E. Angelini and E. A. Phelps, Biomater. Sci., 2021, 9, 2480 DOI: 10.1039/D0BM01499K

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