Cost‐effective synthesis of polyethylene glycol diacrylate‐acrylic acid (PEGDA‐AA), a tissue engineering hydrogel ideal for C2C12 mouse muscle cells

Abstract

Current research in tissue engineering focuses on growing and functionalizing cells in vitro to assemble viable constructs that restore, maintain, or improve damaged tissues or whole organs. Specific to the field of tissue engineering, hydrogels have proven successful in the development of multiple cell types with the goal of one day serving as grafts that will replace large areas of lost or damaged tissue. This assembly depends on the presence of a scaffold, or three‐dimensional structure that guides the growth of new tissue, and hydrogel polymers in particular have been known to be an excellent building block for scaffold formation. This research focused on the synthesis and characterization of the hydrogel polyethylene glycol diacrylate‐acrylic acid (PEGDA‐AA), a hydrophilic material that provides a viable environment for cell maturation because of its favorable characteristics for the development and maturation of mouse C2C12 muscle cells. Using modified procedures adapted from Browe et al. (2016) to create a cost‐effective way of synthesizing this precursor, PEGDA was successfully synthesized and characterized through 13C and 1H‐NMR spectroscopy. Current research focuses on analyzing the effects of the hydrogel on the growth and development of C2C12 cells with the long‐term goal of establishing an efficient model for human tissue engineering.Support or Funding InformationHampden‐Sydney College Office of Undergraduate ResearchThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.