title: An initial evaluation of gellan gum as a material for tissue engineering applications.
abstract: Alpha-modified minimum essential medium (alphaMEM) has been found to cross-link a 1% gellan gum solution, resulting in the formation of a self-supporting hydrogel in 1:1 and 5:1 ratios of polysaccharide: alphaMEM. Rheological data from temperature sweeps confirm that in addition to orders of magnitude differences in G' between 1% gellan and 1% gellan with alphaMEM, there is also a 20 degrees C increase in the temperature at which the onset of gelation takes place when alphaMEM is present. Frequency sweeps confirm the formation of a true gel; mechanical spectra for mixtures of gellan and alphaMEM clearly demonstrate G' to be independent of frequency. It is possible to immobilize cells within a three-dimensional (3D) gellan matrix that remain viable for up to 21 days in culture by adding a suspension of rat bone marrow cells (rBMC) in alphaMEM to 1% gellan solution. This extremely simple approach to cell immobilization within 3D constructs, made possible by the fact that gellan solutions cross-link in the presence of millimolar concentrations of cations, poses a very low risk to a cell population immobilized within a gellan matrix and thus indicates the potential of gellan for use as a tissue engineering scaffold.
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Unit, School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham St Chad's Queensway, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Perrie
authors.forename: Jonathan J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry*; D051381:Rats; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C048288:gellan gum