Aigoin Jeanne, Payré Bruno, Minvielle Moncla Jeanne, Escudero Mélanie, Goudouneche Dominique, Ferri-Angulo Daniel, Calmon Pierre-François, Vaysse Laurence, Kemoun Philippe, Malaquin Laurent, Foncy Julie
LAAS-CNRS, 7 avenue du colonel Roche, Toulouse 31400, France.
CMEAB, Universite Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, CMEAB, 133 route de Narbonne, Toulouse 31062, France.
ACS Omega. 2025 Apr 14;10(15):14687-14698. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.4c08096. eCollection 2025 Apr 22.
Hydrogels have emerged as a versatile class of materials with broad applications in biomedical engineering, drug delivery, and tissue engineering. Understanding their intricate structures and morphologies is crucial for tailoring their properties to meet specific biomedical needs. It has been clearly established that the composition and microarchitecture of the materials play a critical role in essential cellular mechanisms such as mechanosensing, adhesion, and remodeling. This question is essential in tissue engineering, where precisely characterizing the microarchitecture of the materials used to model the cell microenvironment is a critical step to ensure the reproducibility and relevance of reconstructed tissues. In this study, we present a comprehensive comparison of four advanced electron microscopy techniques, namely, scanning electron microscopy, cryo-scanning electron microscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, to observe the hydrogel microarchitecture, including a comparison of the sample preparation methods for each technique. Each technique's specific advantages and limitations are discussed in detail, highlighting their unique capabilities in characterizing the hydrogel structures. We illustrate this study with two semisynthetic hydrogels, such as gelatin methacrylate and hyaluronic acid methacrylate. Moreover, we delve into the critical sample preparation steps necessary for each method, emphasizing the need to preserve the hydrogel's native state while obtaining high-resolution images. This comparative analysis aims to select the most suitable electron microscopy technique for their hydrogel studies, fostering deeper insights into the design and development of advanced biomaterials for tissue engineering applications.
水凝胶已成为一类用途广泛的材料，在生物医学工程、药物递送和组织工程中有着广泛应用。了解它们复杂的结构和形态对于调整其性能以满足特定的生物医学需求至关重要。已经明确的是，材料的组成和微观结构在诸如机械传感、黏附及重塑等基本细胞机制中起着关键作用。在组织工程中，这个问题至关重要，因为精确表征用于模拟细胞微环境的材料的微观结构是确保重建组织的可重复性和相关性的关键步骤。在本研究中，我们对四种先进的电子显微镜技术进行了全面比较，即扫描电子显微镜、低温扫描电子显微镜、环境扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜，以观察水凝胶的微观结构，包括对每种技术的样品制备方法的比较。详细讨论了每种技术的具体优点和局限性，突出了它们在表征水凝胶结构方面的独特能力。我们用两种半合成水凝胶，如甲基丙烯酸明胶和甲基丙烯酸透明质酸，来说明这项研究。此外，我们深入探讨了每种方法所需的关键样品制备步骤，强调在获得高分辨率图像的同时保持水凝胶天然状态的必要性。这种比较分析旨在为水凝胶研究选择最合适的电子显微镜技术，促进对用于组织工程应用的先进生物材料的设计和开发有更深入的了解。
