Poly(glycerol sebacate)-co-poly(ethylene glycol)/Gelatin Hybrid Hydrogels as Biocompatible Biomaterials for Cell Proliferation and Spreading.

Synthetic polymers have been widely employed to prepare hydrogels for biomedical applications, such as cell culture, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. However, the activity of cells cultured in the synthetic polymer-based hydrogels faces the challenges of limited cell proliferation and spreading compared to cells cultured in natural polymer-based hydrogels. To address this concern, a hybrid hydrogel strategy is demonstrated by incorporating thiolated gelatin (GS) into the norbornene-functionalized poly (glycerol sebacate)-co-polyethylene glycol (Nor_PGS-co-PEG, NPP) network to prepare highly biocompatible NPP/GS_UV hydrogels after the thiol-ene photo-crosslinking reaction. The GS introduces several desirable features (i.e., enhanced water content, enlarged pore size, increased mechanical property, and more cell adhesion sites) to the NPP/GS_UV hydrogels, facilitating the cell proliferation and spreading inside the network. Thus, the highly biocompatible NPP/GS_UV hydrogels are promising materials for cell encapsulation and tissue engineering applications. Taken together, the hybrid hydrogel strategy is demonstrated as a powerful approach to fabricate hydrogels with a highly friendly environment for cell culture, expanding the biomedical applications of hydrogels.