Cell surface coating with hydrogel sheath through on-cell surface enzymatic cross-linking

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Cell surface coating with hydrogel sheath through on-cell surface enzymatic cross-linking Shinji Sakai1, Tomoki Hotta1 and Masahito Taya1 1 Osaka University, Materials Engineering Science, Japan Cell surface engineering such as immobilization of molecules and coating with a thin polymeric sheath in a biocompatible fashion but without genetic or metabolic-based methodologies attracts attention in the field of biology, biomedical and biomaterials. The technology enables to give new functionalities to improve usefulness of individual cells in these fields. In this study, hydrogel sheaths were fabricated on the surfaces of individual mammalian cells through the cross-linking of polymer molecules catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in aqueous solution (Figure 1). For confining the progress of the cross-linking only on the cell surface, HRP was anchored to cell membrane by soaking the cells in the solution containing the HRP conjugated with a biocompatible anchor molecule for cell membrane (BAM) (Figure 2). The hydrogel sheath of about 1 micrometer thickness was obtained by soaking the cells with the anchored HRP in aqueous solution containing polymers possessing phenolic hydroxyl (Ph) moieties and H2O2 for 10 min. The hydrogel sheaths could be made from a variety of polymers possessing Ph moieties, e.g., derivatives of polysaccharide, protein and synthetic polymer. Cytocompatibility of the on-cell surface enzymatic hydrogel sheath formation was confirmed from the viability of the enclosed cells (> 90%) and subsequent normal growth after removal of the hydrogel sheath[1],[2].