title: Photocrosslinkable Gelatin Hydrogel for Epidermal Tissue Engineering.
abstract: Natural hydrogels are promising scaffolds to engineer epidermis. Currently, natural hydrogels used to support epidermal regeneration are mainly collagen- or gelatin-based, which mimic the natural dermal extracellular matrix but often suffer from insufficient and uncontrollable mechanical and degradation properties. In this study, a photocrosslinkable gelatin (i.e., gelatin methacrylamide (GelMA)) with tunable mechanical, degradation, and biological properties is used to engineer the epidermis for skin tissue engineering applications. The results reveal that the mechanical and degradation properties of the developed hydrogels can be readily modified by varying the hydrogel concentration, with elastic and compressive moduli tuned from a few kPa to a few hundred kPa, and the degradation times varied from a few days to several months. Additionally, hydrogels of all concentrations displayed excellent cell viability (>90%) with increasing cell adhesion and proliferation corresponding to increases in hydrogel concentrations. Furthermore, the hydrogels are found to support keratinocyte growth, differentiation, and stratification into a reconstructed multilayered epidermis with adequate barrier functions. The robust and tunable properties of GelMA hydrogels suggest that the keratinocyte laden hydrogels can be used as epidermal substitutes, wound dressings, or substrates to construct various in vitro skin models.
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.|Division of Immunology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yildirimer
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Zhi Yuan
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Orthopedic Institute, Soochow University, 708 Renmin Rd, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215006, China.
authors.forename: Wenguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.|Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Annabi
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, N4.1 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Kee Woei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.|Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Mehmet R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Dokmeci
authors.affiliation: Division of Immunology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, UK.
authors.forename: Amir M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ghaemmaghami
authors.affiliation: Biomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02139, MA, USA.|Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 02139, MA, USA.|Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.|Department of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21569, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khademhosseini
mesh_terms: D000178:Acrylamides / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D019245:Compressive Strength; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D017097:Electric Impedance; D000078404:Epidermal Cells; D005780:Gelatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D034421:Sus scrofa; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000178:Acrylamides; D003432:Cross-Linking Reagents; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D005780:Gelatin; C045985:methacrylamide
keywords: degradation; epidermis; keratinocytes; mechanical properties; photocrosslinkable gelatin