title: Effect of particle size in a colloidal hydrogel scaffold for 3D cell culture.
abstract: The in situ-forming colloidal hydrogels from the thermal gelation of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgel dispersions have been exploited for 3D cell culture. The properties of the hydrogel scaffold need to be tuned to further improve its performance. In addition, cellular uptake of the microgel particles need to be reduced to avoid their potential undesired influence. For these purposes we systematically examined the effect of microgel particle size on the hydrogel scaffold. It was found that gel properties could be tuned via changing particle size. Increasing particle size reduces the gel strength and its syneresis degree, both of which are favorable for cell growth. Meanwhile increasing particle size could also reduce significantly the cellular uptake of the microgel particles. Microgel with a size of ~162 nm shows the highest cellular uptake, beyond which cellular uptake decreases with increasing particle size. Hydrogel scaffold from 300 nm microgel, with suitable physical properties and reduced cellular uptake, were successfully used for multicellular spheroid generation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, The Co-Innovation Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Tianjin, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, The Co-Innovation Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Tianjin, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Yening
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, The Co-Innovation Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Tianjin, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, The Co-Innovation Center of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Tianjin, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. Electronic address: yongjunzhang@nankai.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yongjun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D020100:Hydrogels
keywords: 3D cell culture; Cellular uptake; Colloidal hydrogels; Microgels; Multicellular spheroids