title: Polyethylene glycol-based cationically charged hydrogel beads as a new microcarrier for cell culture.
abstract: A new polyethylene glycol (PEG) based microcarrier was designed and examined by the attachment and growth of mouse fibroblast cells. In the design of microcarrier, a PEG-based macromonomer, polyethyleneglycol methacrylate (PEGMA), was selected as the main component of hydrogel beads since PEG is known as a nontoxic and biocompatible material. A relatively new cationic comonomer, N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide (DMAPM), with higher ionization ability with respect to the similar comonomers was used for providing cationic charge to the hydrogel structure. In the first part, a suspension copolymerization method was developed for the production of cationically charged hydrogel beads as a potential microcarrier for cell culturing. The suspension copolymerization by using ethylene dimethacrylate (EDM) as cross-linking agent and cyclohexanol as the diluent provided spherical, polydisperse poly(PEGMA-DMAPM-EDM) hydrogel beads with an average size of 121 microm. The hydrogel beads exhibited a pH-dependent swelling behavior. The L929 mouse fibroblast cells were cultured on poly(PEGMA-DMAPM-EDM) hydrogel beads with an initial concentration of 200,000 cells/mL. The cells were incubated in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium during 5 days and the cell proliferation was investigated at every 24 h. An effective cell attachment and growth up to 3.5 x 10(6) cells/mL were observed with the poly(PEGMA-DMAPM-EDM) hydrogel beads. The results indicated that the proposed microcarrier was a significant alternative to the hydrogel beads obtained by the copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and 2-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate commonly used in microcarrier-facilitated cell culturing studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Hacettepe University, Beytepe 06532, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Esra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cer
authors.forename: Ozer Aylin
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Gürpinar
authors.forename: Mehmet A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Onur
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tuncel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002412:Cations; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010316:Particle Size; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002412:Cations; D020100:Hydrogels; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols