title: Tough and Cell-Compatible Chitosan Physical Hydrogels for Mouse Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Vitro.
abstract: Most hydrogels involve synthetic polymers and organic cross-linkers that cannot simultaneously fulfill the mechanical and cell-compatibility requirements of biomedical applications. We prepared a new type of chitosan physical hydrogel with various degrees of deacetylation (DDs) via the heterogeneous deacetylation of nanoporous chitin hydrogels under mild conditions. The DD of the chitosan physical hydrogels ranged from 56 to 99%, and the hydrogels were transparent and mechanically strong because of the extra intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the amino and hydroxyl groups on the nearby chitosan nanofibrils. The tensile strength and Young's modulus of the chitosan physical hydrogels were 3.6 and 7.9 MPa, respectively, for a DD of 56% and increased to 12.1 and 92.0 MPa for a DD of 99% in a swelling equilibrium state. In vitro studies demonstrated that mouse bone mesenchymal stem cells (mBMSCs) cultured on chitosan physical hydrogels had better adhesion and proliferation than those cultured on chitin hydrogels. In particular, the chitosan physical hydrogels promoted the differentiation of the mBMSCs into epidermal cells in vitro. These materials are promising candidates for applications such as stem cell research, cell therapy, and tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510641, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huichang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University , Shanghai 200062, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yaya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510641, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance, East China Normal University , Shanghai 200062, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry & Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: cell-compatibility; chitosan; heterogeneous deacetylation; hydrogels; mechanical properties