Chongqing Key Laboratory of Nano/Micro Composite Materials and Devices, School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, PR China.
Chongqing Engineering Laboratory of Nano/Micro Biomedical Detection Technology, School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, PR China.
Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2020 Nov;116:111143. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2020.111143. Epub 2020 May 30.
Surface tension-driven assembly is a simple routine used in modular tissue engineering to create three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic tissues with desired structural and biological characteristics. A major bottleneck for this technology is the lack of suitable hydrogel materials to meet the requirements of the assembly process and tissue regeneration. Identifying specific requirements and synthesizing novel hydrogels will provide a versatile platform for generating additional biomimetic functional tissues using this approach. In this paper, we present a novel composite hydrogel system based on methacrylated gelatin and γ-polyglutamic acid by UV copolymerization as the building block for fabricating vascular-like tissue via surface tension-driven assembly. The resulting composite hydrogels exhibited the improved mechanical properties and hydrophilicity, which greatly facilitate the assembly process. Subsequent cell encapsulation experiment proved that the hydrogel could provide 3D support for cellular spreading and migration. Furthermore, based on the composite microgel building blocks, cylindrical vascular-like construct with a perfusable microchannel was generated by the needle-assisted sequential assembly. In order to construct a biomimetic vascular tissue, the endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells were encapsulated in the microgels assembly with a spatial arrangement to build a heterogeneous double-layer tubular structure and the cells could readily elongate and migrate in the hollow concentric construct over 3 days. These data suggest that this composite hydrogel is an attractive candidate for surface tension-driven assembly purposes, making the hydrogel potentially applicable in the fabrication of biomimetic vascularized tissues.
表面张力驱动组装是一种在模块化组织工程中常用的简单方法，可用于创建具有所需结构和生物学特性的三维（3D）仿生组织。该技术的一个主要瓶颈是缺乏合适的水凝胶材料来满足组装过程和组织再生的要求。确定特定的要求并合成新型水凝胶将为使用这种方法生成更多仿生功能组织提供一个通用平台。在本文中，我们提出了一种基于甲基丙烯酰化明胶和γ-聚谷氨酸的新型复合水凝胶系统，通过 UV 共聚用作通过表面张力驱动组装制造血管样组织的构建块。所得复合水凝胶表现出改善的机械性能和亲水性，这极大地促进了组装过程。随后的细胞包封实验证明，该水凝胶可以为细胞的扩散和迁移提供 3D 支持。此外，基于复合微凝胶构建块，通过针辅助顺序组装生成具有可灌注微通道的圆柱形血管样结构。为了构建仿生血管组织，内皮细胞和平滑肌细胞被包封在微凝胶组装体中，以构建具有异质双层管状结构的空间排列，并且细胞可以在 3 天内在空心同心结构中容易地伸长和迁移。这些数据表明，这种复合水凝胶是表面张力驱动组装的有吸引力的候选物，使得水凝胶在仿生血管组织的制造中具有潜在的应用。
