Abstract
Hydrogels have been developed and applied to various biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility. However, understanding of modulation between cells to hydrogel interface is still unclear, and parameters to explain the interaction are not sophisticated enough. In this report, we studied the effect of polymer chain flexibility on cell adhesion to various hydrogel constructs of collagen and fibrin gels. Specifically, novel method of semi-flexible model-based analysis confirmed that chain flexibility mediated microstructure of the hydrogels is a critical factor for cell adhesion on their surfaces. The proposed analysis showed possibility of more accurate prediction of biocompatibility of hydrogels, and it should be considered as one of the important criteria for polymer design and selections for enhancing both biocompatibility and biofunctionality.
Highlights
Hydrogels are networks of polymer chains swollen with water and have been used in various biomedical applications such as drug delivery and tissue engineering[1,2,3]
As the importance of mechanical properties of extracellular matrix (ECM) on cellular behavior has attracted much attention, researchers have tried to analyze the role of mechanical properties of biomaterials on cell adhesion
Chain flexibility in viscoelastic networks was evaluated based on the semi-flexible model
Summary
Hydrogels are networks of polymer chains swollen with water and have been used in various biomedical applications such as drug delivery and tissue engineering[1,2,3]. There are high demands for defining precise mechanical parameters to understand cell to biomaterial interaction, thereby predicting both biocompatibility and functionality of biomaterials. Natural polymers, such as collagen and fibrin, are attractive sources of biomedical applications due to their excellent biocompatibility. Most natural polymers are classified as a semi-flexible polymer, where neither models of flexible chain solutions nor rigid-rod networks apply to such systems[12]. According to the semi-flexible model, chain flexibility can be predicted by the scaling of elastic plateau modulus of polymeric networks[13] These features cannot be captured with bulk stiffness, such as Young’s modulus, used in traditional adhesion studies. The proposed analysis method can offer guidelines for designing hydrogels and biopolymers for enhancing cell adhesion properties
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