Screening of Hydrogels for Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Cells: Hyaluronan-Polyvinyl Alcohol-Collagen-Based Interpenetrating Polymer Network Provides an Improved Hydrogel Scaffold.

There is a clear need for novel in vitro models, especially for neuronal applications. Development of in vitro models is a multiparameter task consisting of cell-, biomaterial-, and environment-related parameters. Here, three different human origin neuronal cell sources are studied and cultured in various hydrogel 3D scaffolds. For the efficient evaluation of complex results, an indexing method for data is developed and used in principal component analysis (PCA). It is found that no single hydrogel is superior to other hydrogels, and collagen I (Col1) and hyaluronan-poly(vinyl alcohol) (HA1-PVA) gels are combined into an interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel. The IPN gel combines cell supportiveness of the collagen gel and stability of the HA1-PVA gel. Moreover, cell adhesion is studied in particular and it is found that adhesion of neurons differs from that observed for fibroblasts. In conclusion, the HA1-PVA-col1 hydrogel is a suitable scaffold for neuronal cells and supports adhesion formation in 3D.