title: Cell-laden microengineered pullulan methacrylate hydrogels promote cell proliferation and 3D cluster formation.
abstract: The ability to encapsulate cells in three-dimensional (3D) environments is potentially of benefit for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this paper, we introduce pullulan methacrylate (PulMA) as a promising hydrogel platform for creating cell-laden microscale tissues. The hydration and mechanical properties of PulMA were demonstrated to be tunable through modulation of the degree of methacrylation and gel concentration. Cells encapsulated in PulMA exhibited excellent viability. Interestingly, while cells did not elongate in PulMA hydrogels, cells proliferated and organized into clusters, the size of which could be controlled by the hydrogel composition. By mixing with gelatin methacrylate (GelMA), the biological properties of PulMA could be enhanced as demonstrated by cells readily attaching to, proliferating, and elongating within the PulMA/GelMA composite hydrogels. These data suggest that PulMA hydrogels could be useful for creating complex, cell-responsive microtissues, especially for applications that require controlled cell clustering and proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 65 Landsdowne Street, Rm 252, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Hojae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Amir F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Ahari
authors.forename: Hyeongho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jason W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Nichol
authors.forename: Che B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Hutson
authors.forename: Mahdokht
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masaeli
authors.forename: Su-Hwan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hug
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aubin
authors.forename: Seda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamanlar
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khademhosseini