title: Programming Mechanical and Physicochemical Properties of 3D Hydrogel Cellular Microcultures via Direct Ink Writing.
abstract: 3D hydrogel scaffolds are widely used in cellular microcultures and tissue engineering. Using direct ink writing, microperiodic poly(2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) (pHEMA) scaffolds are created that are then printed, cured, and modified by absorbing 30 kDa protein poly-l-lysine (PLL) to render them biocompliant in model NIH/3T3 fibroblast and MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cell cultures. Spatial light interference microscopy (SLIM) live cell imaging studies are carried out to quantify cellular motilities for each cell type, substrate, and surface treatment of interest. 3D scaffold mechanics is investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), while their absorption kinetics are determined by confocal fluorescence microscopy (CFM) for a series of hydrated hydrogel films prepared from prepolymers with different homopolymer-to-monomer (Mr ) ratios. The observations reveal that the inks with higher Mr values yield relatively more open-mesh gels due to a lower degree of entanglement. The biocompatibility of printed hydrogel scaffolds can be controlled by both PLL content and hydrogel mesh properties.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Joselle M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: McCracken
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Adina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badea
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Mikhail E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kandel
authors.affiliation: Wyss Institute, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
authors.forename: A Sydney
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gladman
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wetzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Popescu
authors.affiliation: Wyss Institute, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Ralph G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Nuzzo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011102:Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D011107:Polylysine; D011102:Polyhydroxyethyl Methacrylate
keywords: 3D print; fibroblasts; fluorescence; hydrogels; scaffolds