Hydrogel microspheres with probiotic-loaded therapy have been considered an effective and safe strategy for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, the low survival rate under harsh stomach conditions and inflammatory cytokine target release efficiency remains a major challenge for their application. Herein, a novel NO-responsive poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) hydrogel microcapsule (NRPM) strategy based on a droplet microfluidic technology platform is proposed. Accordingly, highly uniform microspheres with high cell densities (6.0 × 10 8 cells mL −1 ) and a wide range of diameters (100-600 μm) are produced, which are critical for realizing accurate downstream evaluation and applications. Owing to the cytoprotective effects of the NRPM, the decorated probiotics showed high viability in the simulated gastric (89.67%) and intestinal (93.67%) fluid environments, while the data are 0% and 61.60% for free cells, respectively. Moreover, both in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate that microspheres can respond to nitric oxide (NO) stimuli and rapidly release probiotics to maintain the intestinal mechanical barrier and regulate the balance of intestinal flora. Consequently, NRPM significantly increases the treatment efficacy against dextran sulfate sodiuminduced colitis in a mouse model. The results demonstrate that NRPM is a promising approach for improving the efficacy of orally administered probiotics in patients with colonic IBD.
Living materials that combine active cells and synthetic matrix materials have become a promising research field in recent years. While multicellular systems present exclusive benefits in developing living materials over single-cell systems, creating artificial multicellular systems can be challenging due to the difficulty in controlling the multicellular assemblies and the complexity of cell-to-cell interactions. Here, we propose a co-culture platform capable of isolating and controlling the spatial distribution of algal-bacterial consortia, which can be used to construct photosynthetic living fibers. Through coaxial extrusion-based 3D printing, hydrogel fibers containing bacteria or algae can be deposited into designated structures and further processed into materials with precise geometries. In addition, the photosynthetic living fibers demonstrate a significant synergistic catalytic effect resulting from the immobilization of both bacteria and algae, which effectively optimize sewage treatment for bioremediation purposes. The integration of microbial consortia and 3D printing gives functional living materials that have promising applications in biocatalysis, biosensing, and biomedicine. Our approach provides an optimized solution for constructing efficient multicellular systems and opens a new avenue for the development of advanced materials.
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