title: Accelerated wound healing by injectable microporous gel scaffolds assembled from annealed building blocks.
abstract: Injectable hydrogels can provide a scaffold for in situ tissue regrowth and regeneration, yet gel degradation before tissue reformation limits the gels' ability to provide physical support. Here, we show that this shortcoming can be circumvented through an injectable, interconnected microporous gel scaffold assembled from annealed microgel building blocks whose chemical and physical properties can be tailored by microfluidic fabrication. In vitro, cells incorporated during scaffold formation proliferated and formed extensive three-dimensional networks within 48 h. In vivo, the scaffolds facilitated cell migration that resulted in rapid cutaneous-tissue regeneration and tissue-structure formation within five days. The combination of microporosity and injectability of these annealed gel scaffolds should enable novel routes to tissue regeneration and formation in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Westbrook M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.affiliation: Division of Dermatology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Philip O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Scumpia
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, California NanoSystems Institute, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Dino
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, California NanoSystems Institute, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Segura
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002460:Cell Line; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D044085:Microfluidics; D016062:Porosity; D012038:Regeneration; D012867:Skin / Q000378:metabolism; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels