Construction of physical crosslink-based chitosan/liquid crystal composite hydrogel and evaluation on their cytocompatibility.
In order to provide a novel biomimetic composite substrate for tissue engineering and explore the interaction between cells and this type of material, we developed chitosan/liquid crystal (CS/LC) composite hydrogel with embedded LC phases by composing of cholesterol hydroxypropyl cellulose ester liquid crystalline material and CS. The micromorphology of CS/LC composite hydrogels exhibited 'islands-sea' phase separation structures similar to the 'fluid mosaic model' of biomembrane. In vitro cell compatibility study suggested that 3T3 is fibroblasts exhibited better initial cell adhesions and higher proliferation rates on the composite hydrogel than on the polystyrene control plate and the pure LC membrane. This novel CS/LC composite hydrogel provides more favorable interface for cell growth and proliferation and may serve as potentially active substrate for engineering interfaces to live cells.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Lin
L
Du
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Xiaohui
X
Yang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Wenqiang
W
Li
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Xuhui
X
Luo
Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; The First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Hao
H
Wu
Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Jiaqing
J
Zhang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China; Engineering Research Center of Artificial Organs and Materials, Ministry of Education, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People's Republic of China.
Mei
M
Tu
cell compatibility; chitosan; composite hydrogels; liquid crystal; structure and morphology