Poly(N‐acryloylmorpholine): A simple hydrogel system for temporal and spatial control over cell adhesion

Abstract

N-acryloylmorpholine (NAM) was photo-polymerized to produce the homopolymer poly(N-acryloylmorpholine) (PNAM). PNAM behaves as a physical hydrogel in aqueous solvents, doubling its dry weight over a 2 h period before undergoing dissolution following a second order exponential decay profile. In vitro cellular experiments using mouse myoblasts showed that PNAM acts as an effective spatial cell barrier for 38 h, with slow migration of cells into the PNAM area occurring between 45 and 73 h after cell seeding. At 80 h myoblasts fully occupied the area initially blocked by PNAM. Immunofluorescent staining of myoblasts adjacent to PNAM showed normal cytoskeletal structure and well developed focal adhesions indicating limited PNAM toxicity. This study shows that PNAM is an easy to synthesize physical hydrogel that acts as a temporal and spatial barrier to cell adhesion.

1H DOSY NMR Determination of the Molecular Weight and the Solution Properties of Poly(N‐acryloylmorpholine) in Various Solvents

“…N ‐acryloylmorpholine (NAM) is a bi‐substituted acrylamide derivative exhibiting several outstanding features such as good solubility in a wide range of aqueous and organic solvents and the ability to yield high molecular weight polymers that are also soluble both in aqueous and in polar or low polarity solvents . Poly( N ‐acryloylmorpholine) (PNAM; Figure ) is an attractive alternative to polyethyleneglycol (PEG) since both polymers are highly biocompatible and show similar properties . In addition, PNAM is synthesized by radical polymerization (unlike PEG).…”

Aqueous Copper‐Mediated Living Radical Polymerisation of N‐Acryloylmorpholine, SET‐LRP in Water

“…N ‐Acryloylmorpholine (NAM) is a neutral hydrophilic acrylamide monomer with potential for use in a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, crosslinked networks for gel‐phase synthesis of peptides and oligonucleotides, enzyme immobilisation, membranes for blood plasma separation, and effectively as an alternative to linear PEG . Furthermore, the low toxicity and the low incidence of provoking immunological reaction in vivo as well as the good biocompatibility renders poly(NAM), and its block copolymers, as promising candidates for blood cell separation and drug delivery applications …”

Micropatterned Smart Culture Surfaces via Multi‐Step Physical Coating of Functional Block Copolymers for Harvesting Cell Sheets with Controlled Sizes and Shapes

“…have previously reported the temporal and spatial control of cell adhesion on PNAM‐based hydrogels with limited PNAM cytotoxicity. [ 24 ] The differences in cell responses are known to be related to culture substrates with surface chemistry, surface hydrophilicity, and roughness, which affect the quantity and conformation of adsorbed proteins. [ 25,26 ] In particular, the increase in surface hydrophilicity tends to decrease the adsorption of cell adhesion proteins and their cell binding activities.…”