Abstract
A comparative study of gelation processes in aqueous solutions of sodium alginate initiated by their chemical crosslinking with divalent ions Ca2+ or Ba2+ was carried out. 3D cryoprinted hydrogel scaffolds of certain architectonics were formed from the studied compositions containing various concentrations of crosslinking agents. It is shown that the increase in the crosslinking agent concentration from 2 to 10 wt. % leads to the improvement in the strength characteristics of alginate structures. At the same time, scaffolds crosslinked with 10 % aqueous solutions of both CaCl2 and BaCl2 retain their structural stability during 21 days of incubation in a culture medium at a temperature of 37 °C. During in vitro experiments on cultures of mesenchymal stem cells derived from rat adipose tissue, samples crosslinked with Ba2+ ions were found to demonstrate a moderate cytotoxic effect and showed their inability to maintain cell adhesion, unlike non-toxic scaffolds crosslinked in CaCl2 aqueous solutions. In vivo analysis of experimental samples on an intramuscular implantation model for male Wistar rats also confirmed moderate cytotoxicity of alginate scaffolds formed using Ba2+ ions as crosslinking agents. The results obtained allow us to assert that of all the studied by us materials, sodium alginate crosslinked with a 10% CaCl2 aqueous solution can be considered the most promising for various biomedical applications.
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