title: Hydrogel-based methods for engineering cellular microenvironment with spatiotemporal gradients.
abstract: Natural cellular microenvironment consists of spatiotemporal gradients of multiple physical (e.g. extracellular matrix stiffness, porosity and stress/strain) and chemical cues (e.g. morphogens), which play important roles in regulating cell behaviors including spreading, proliferation, migration, differentiation and apoptosis, especially for pathological processes such as tumor formation and progression. Therefore, it is essential to engineer cellular gradient microenvironment incorporating various gradients for the fabrication of normal and pathological tissue models in vitro. In this article, we firstly review the development of engineering cellular physical and chemical gradients with cytocompatible hydrogels in both two-dimension and three-dimension formats. We then present current advances in the application of engineered gradient microenvironments for the fabrication of disease models in vitro. Finally, concluding remarks and future perspectives for engineering cellular gradients are given.
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Yuhui
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Guoyou
authors: G
authors: Huang
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Xiaohui
authors: X
authors: Zhang
authors: c Department of Biomedical Engineering , Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya , Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , and.
authors: Belinda
authors: B
authors: Pingguan-Murphy
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|d Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism , Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Gao
authors: b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Tian Jian
authors: TJ
authors: Lu
authors: a MOE Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering , School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .|b Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center (BEBC), Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China .
authors: Feng
authors: F
authors: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060846:Cell Engineering; D060833:Cellular Microenvironment; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels
keywords: Biomolecules; cellular microenvironment; disease models; spatiotemporal gradients; stiffness