title: Insight into halloysite nanotubes-loaded gellan gum hydrogels for soft tissue engineering applications.
abstract: A tri-component hydrogel, based on gellan gum (GG), glycerol (Gly) and halloysite nanotubes (HNT), is proposed in this work for soft tissue engineering applications. The FDA-approved GG polysaccharide has been recently exploited as biomaterial because its biomimetic features. Gly is added as molecular spacer to improve hydrogel viscosity and mechanical properties. HNT incorporation within the hydrogel offers the versatility to improve the GG-Gly biocompatibility with potential incorporation of target biomolecules. In this work, hydrogels with different composition ratios are physically crosslinked for tuning physico-mechanical properties. An accurate physico-chemical characterization is reported. HNT addition leads to a water uptake decrease of 30-35% and tuneable mechanical properties with a compressive Young's modulus ranging between 20 and 75kPa. Finally, in vitro study with human fibroblasts on GG-Gly hydrogels loaded with 25% HNT offered the higher metabolic activities and cell survival up to 7days of incubation.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, Bari, 70126, Italy. Electronic address: maria.bonifacio@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bonifacio
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering, Newcastle University, Stephenson Building, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. Electronic address: piergiorgio.gentile@newcastle.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Piergiorgio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering, Newcastle University, Stephenson Building, Claremont Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK. Electronic address: ana.ferreira-duarte@newcastle.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Jaber Innovation s.r.l., via Calcutta 8, Rome, 00144, Italy. Electronic address: stefania.cometa@virgilio.it.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cometa
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Chemistry, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via E. Orabona 4, Bari, 70126, Italy. Electronic address: elvira.degiglio@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Giglio
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000077215:Clay; D005347:Fibroblasts; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels; D043942:Nanotubes; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; C048288:gellan gum; D000077215:Clay
keywords: Calcium Chloride (PubChem CID: 5284359); Gellan gum; Gellan gum (PubChem SID: 135330201); Glycerol (PubChem CID: 753); Halloysite nanotubes (HNT); Halloysite nanotubes (PubChem CID: 121233131); Human fibroblasts; Hydrogel; Tissue engineering