Chen Zhengkun, Khuu Nancy, Xu Fei, Kheiri Sina, Yakavets Ilya, Rakhshani Faeze, Morozova Sofia, Kumacheva Eugenia
Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H6, Canada.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G8, Canada.
Gels. 2022 Oct 22;8(11):685. doi: 10.3390/gels8110685.
Many fibrous biological tissues exhibit structural anisotropy due to the alignment of fibers in the extracellular matrix. To study the impact of such anisotropy on cell proliferation, orientation, and mobility, it is important to recapitulate and achieve control over the structure of man-made hydrogel scaffolds for cell culture. Here, we report a chemically crosslinked fibrous hydrogel due to the reaction between aldehyde-modified cellulose nanofibers and gelatin. We explored two ways to induce structural anisotropy in this gel by extruding the hydrogel precursor through two different printheads. The cellulose nanofibers in the hydrogel ink underwent shear-induced alignment during extrusion and retained it in the chemically crosslinked hydrogel. The degree of anisotropy was controlled by the ink composition and extrusion flow rate. The structural anisotropy of the hydrogel extruded through a nozzle affected the orientation of human dermal fibroblasts that were either seeded on the hydrogel surface or encapsulated in the extruded hydrogel. The reported straightforward approach to constructing fibrillar hydrogel scaffolds with structural anisotropy can be used in studies of the biological impact of tissue anisotropy.
许多纤维状生物组织由于细胞外基质中纤维的排列而呈现出结构各向异性。为了研究这种各向异性对细胞增殖、取向和迁移的影响，重现并控制用于细胞培养的人造水凝胶支架的结构非常重要。在此，我们报道了一种由醛修饰的纤维素纳米纤维与明胶反应形成的化学交联纤维状水凝胶。我们探索了两种方法来在这种凝胶中诱导结构各向异性，即将水凝胶前体通过两种不同的打印头挤出。水凝胶墨水中的纤维素纳米纤维在挤出过程中经历了剪切诱导排列，并在化学交联水凝胶中得以保留。各向异性程度由墨水组成和挤出流速控制。通过喷嘴挤出的水凝胶的结构各向异性影响了接种在水凝胶表面或封装在挤出水凝胶中的人真皮成纤维细胞的取向。所报道的构建具有结构各向异性的纤维状水凝胶支架的直接方法可用于组织各向异性生物学影响的研究。
