title: Controlling hydrogelation kinetics by peptide design for three-dimensional encapsulation and injectable delivery of cells.
abstract: A peptide-based hydrogelation strategy has been developed that allows homogenous encapsulation and subsequent delivery of C3H10t1/2 mesenchymal stem cells. Structure-based peptide design afforded MAX8, a 20-residue peptide that folds and self-assembles in response to DMEM resulting in mechanically rigid hydrogels. The folding and self-assembly kinetics of MAX8 have been tuned so that when hydrogelation is triggered in the presence of cells, the cells become homogeneously impregnated within the gel. A unique characteristic of these gel-cell constructs is that when an appropriate shear stress is applied, the hydrogel will shear-thin resulting in a low-viscosity gel. However, after the application of shear has stopped, the gel quickly resets and recovers its initial mechanical rigidity in a near quantitative fashion. This property allows gel/cell constructs to be delivered via syringe with precision to target sites. Homogenous cellular distribution and cell viability are unaffected by the shear thinning process and gel/cell constructs stay fixed at the point of introduction, suggesting that these gels may be useful for the delivery of cells to target biological sites in tissue regeneration efforts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Haines-Butterick
authors.forename: Karthikan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rajagopal
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Branco
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Salick
authors.forename: Ronak
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rughani
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pilarz
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lamm
authors.forename: Darrin J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pochan
authors.forename: Joel P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D010455:Peptides