Chemically crosslinked gelatin hydrogels as scaffolding materials for adipose tissue engineering

Abstract

The design of scaffolding materials that mimic the properties of the target tissue to be regenerated is a mandatory requirement to engineer a successful scaffold; however, the heterogeneous properties of adipose tissue (AT), strictly dependent on the AT depot, are often underestimated when engineering AT scaffolds. Moreover, a scaffolding material with versatile properties, suitable for the regeneration of different AT depots, is currently missing. Chemically crosslinked gelatin hydrogels are here prepared, and their properties tuned by varying gelatin concentration and reaction stoichiometry to obtain hydrogels suitable for AT regeneration. All hydrogel formulations are stable in water at 37 °C, showing swelling behavior dependent on synthesis parameters. The mechanical compressive response mimics the viscoelastic response typical of native AT, with elastic modulus values covering the range of breast and heel pad AT. The rheological properties vary among the hydrogel formulations, showing a typical shear thinning response, comparable to other AT scaffolds described in literature. In vitro cytotoxicity tests using 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes show no cytotoxic effects up to 7 days. 3T3‐L1 cells seeded on the hydrogels show good adhesion, proliferation, and adipogenic differentiation, confirmed by an increase in peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma gene expression and lipid droplets accumulation observed by Oil Red O staining. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47104.

Plant Tissues as 3D Natural Scaffolds for Adipose, Bone and Tendon Tissue Regeneration

“…An energy loss was observed during the unloading phase ( Table 1 ), typical of the viscoelastic response that also characterizes native AT ( Riaz et al, 2016 ). Moreover, the obtained H areas from apple-derived scaffolds are comparable to those of previously designed scaffolds ( Chang et al, 2013 ; Contessi Negrini et al, 2019 ) for AT regeneration. A residual strain was observed in both control and decellularized samples at the end of the unloading phase ( Table 1 ), as often observed in scaffolds for soft tissue engineering ( Gao et al, 2014 ).…”

Cross-Linking Strategies for Electrospun Gelatin Scaffolds

“…Most of the investigated cross-linkers react with the gelatin polymer chains to form covalent bonds between the gelatin amino groups. For example (Table 1), investigated cross-linkers include aldehydes (e.g., formaldehyde [35] and glutaraldehyde [36,37]), isocyanates [48], acrylamides [46,47], and epoxides [49]. Glutaraldehyde has been widely used as gelatin cross-linker.…”

Additive Manufacturing Approaches for Hydroxyapatite‐Reinforced Composites

“…Thus, cross‐linking strategies must be used to improve the mechanical properties and stability of gelatin at T > T sol–gel . Several approaches have been widely described including physical, nonzero‐ and zero‐length chemical, and enzymatic cross‐linking mechanisms that showed successful outcomes in generating biocompatible gelatin hydrogels for a variety of tissue engineering applications.…”