Li Xinmeng, Ding Weixiao, Wang Shujun, Yang Luyu, Yu Qingqing, Xiao Changji, Chen Guangbo, Zhang Lei, Guan Shanyue, Sun Dongping
Institute of Chemicobiology and Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 200 Xiao Ling Wei, Nanjing 210094, China.
Department of Blood Transfusion, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing 210002, China.
Cyborg Bionic Syst. 2023 Apr 12;4:0021. doi: 10.34133/cbsystems.0021. eCollection 2023.
The liver is the hub of human metabolism and involves many diseases. To better work on the mechanism and treatment of liver diseases, it is of particular interest to design 3-dimensional scaffolds suitable for culturing hepatocytes in vitro to simulate their metabolic and regenerative abilities. In this study, sulfated bacterial cellulose (SBC) was prepared as the building block of cell scaffolds, motivated by the anionic nature and 3-dimensional structure of hepatic extracellular matrix, and its reaction condition for sulfate esterification was optimized by changing the reaction time. The analysis and study of the microscopic morphology, structure, and cytocompatibility of SBCs showed that they possess good biocompatibility and meet the requirements for tissue engineering. Next, SBC was mixed with gelatin for composite scaffolds (SBC/Gel) for culturing hepatocytes by homogenization and freeze-drying methods, whose physical properties such as pore size, porosity, and compression properties were compared with gelatin (Gel) scaffolds as the control group, and the cytological activity and hemocompatibility of the composite scaffolds were investigated. The results showed that the SBC/Gel composite has better porosity and compression properties, as well as good cytocompatibility and hemocompatibility, and could be applied to 3-dimensional culture of hepatocytes for drug screening or liver tissue engineering.
肝脏是人体新陈代谢的枢纽，涉及多种疾病。为了更好地研究肝脏疾病的发病机制和治疗方法，设计适合体外培养肝细胞以模拟其代谢和再生能力的三维支架具有特别重要的意义。在本研究中，受肝细胞外基质的阴离子性质和三维结构的启发，制备了硫酸化细菌纤维素（SBC）作为细胞支架的构建材料，并通过改变反应时间优化了其硫酸酯化反应条件。对SBC的微观形态、结构和细胞相容性进行分析和研究表明，它们具有良好的生物相容性，符合组织工程的要求。接下来，通过均质化和冷冻干燥方法将SBC与明胶混合制备复合支架（SBC/Gel）用于培养肝细胞，将其孔径、孔隙率和压缩性能等物理性能与作为对照组的明胶（Gel）支架进行比较，并研究复合支架的细胞活性和血液相容性。结果表明，SBC/Gel复合材料具有更好的孔隙率和压缩性能，以及良好的细胞相容性和血液相容性，可应用于肝细胞的三维培养以进行药物筛选或肝脏组织工程。
