Controlling hydrogelation kinetics by peptide design for three-dimensional encapsulation and injectable delivery of cells.
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.
Haines-Butterick
Lisa
L
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Rajagopal
Karthikan
K
Branco
Monica
M
Salick
Daphne
D
Rughani
Ronak
R
Pilarz
Matthew
M
Lamm
Matthew S
MS
Pochan
Darrin J
DJ
Schneider
Joel P
JP
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
D020100:Hydrogels; D010455:Peptides