Extraction and assembly of tissue-derived gels for cell culture and tissue engineering.
Interactions with the extracellular matrix (ECM) play an important role in regulating cell function. Cells cultured in, or on, three-dimensional ECM recapitulate similar features to those found in vivo that are not present in traditional two-dimensional culture. In addition, both natural and synthetic materials containing ECM components have shown promise in a number of tissue engineering applications. Current materials available for cell culture and tissue engineering do not adequately reflect the diversity of ECM composition between tissues. In this paper, a method is presented for extracting solutions of proteins and glycoproteins from soft tissues and inducing assembly of these proteins into gels. The extracts contain ECM proteins specific to the tissue source with low levels of intracellular molecules. Gels formed from the tissue-derived extracts have nanostructure similar to ECM in vivo and can be used to culture cells as both a thin substrate coating and a thick gel. This technique could be used to assemble hydrogels with varying composition depending upon the tissue source, hydrogels for three-dimensional culture, as scaffolds for tissue engineering therapies, and to study cell-matrix interactions.
Uriel
Shiri
S
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA.
Labay
Edwardine
E
Francis-Sedlak
Megan
M
Moya
Monica L
ML
Weichselbaum
Ralph R
RR
Ervin
Natalia
N
Cankova
Zdravka
Z
Brey
Eric M
EM
D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D005782:Gels; D014020:Tissue Extracts