Costa-Almeida Raquel, Gasperini Luca, Borges João, Babo Pedro S, Rodrigues Márcia T, Mano João F, Reis Rui L, Gomes Manuela E
3B's Research Group - Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, AvePark - Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia, Zona Industrial da Gandra, 4805-017 Barco GMR, Portugal.
ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2017 Jul 10;3(7):1322-1331. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.6b00331. Epub 2016 Nov 1.
Fiber-based techniques hold great potential toward the development of structures that mimic the architecture of fibrous tissues, such as tendon. Microfluidics and polyelectrolyte complexation are among the most widely used techniques for the fabrication of fibrous structures. In this work, we combined both techniques to generate hydrogel fibers with a fibrillar-like structure. For this, either methacrylated hyaluronic acid (MA-HA) or chondroitin sulfate (MA-CS) were mixed with alginate (ALG), being all negatively charged polysaccharides, combined with chitosan (CHT), which is positively charged, and separately injected into a microfluidic device. Through a continuous injection into a coagulation bath and subsequent photo-cross-linking, we could obtain multicomponent hydrogel fibers, which exhibited smaller fibrils aligned in parallel, whenever CHT was present. The biological performance was assessed upon encapsulation and further culture of tendon cells. Overall, the reported process did not affect cell viability and cells were also able to maintain their main function of producing extracellular matrix up to 21 days in culture. In summary, we developed a novel class of photo-cross-linkable multicomponent hydrogel fibers than can act as bioactive modulators of cell behavior.
基于纤维的技术在开发模仿纤维组织（如肌腱）结构的结构方面具有巨大潜力。微流控技术和聚电解质络合是制造纤维结构最广泛使用的技术之一。在这项工作中，我们将这两种技术结合起来，以生成具有纤维状结构的水凝胶纤维。为此，将甲基丙烯酸化透明质酸（MA-HA）或硫酸软骨素（MA-CS）与藻酸盐（ALG）混合，它们都是带负电荷的多糖，再与带正电荷的壳聚糖（CHT）结合，然后分别注入微流控装置中。通过连续注入凝固浴并随后进行光交联，我们可以获得多组分水凝胶纤维，只要存在CHT，这些纤维就会呈现出平行排列的较小原纤维。在封装并进一步培养肌腱细胞后评估其生物学性能。总体而言，所报道的过程不会影响细胞活力，并且细胞在培养长达21天的时间里也能够维持其产生细胞外基质的主要功能。总之，我们开发了一种新型的可光交联多组分水凝胶纤维，它可以作为细胞行为的生物活性调节剂。
