Abstract
A gellan gum (GG) hydrogel must demonstrate a number of critical qualities—low viscosity, degradability, desirable mechanical properties, anti-swelling properties, and biocompatibility—in order to be regarded as suitable for retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) regeneration. In this study, we investigated whether the application of an eggshell membrane (ESM) to a GG hydrogel improved these critical attributes. The crosslinking of the ESM/GG hydrogels was most effectively reduced, when a 4 w/v% ESM was used, leading to a 40% less viscosity and a 30% higher degradation efficiency than a pure GG hydrogel. The compressive moduli of the ESM/GG hydrogels were maintained, as the smaller pores formed by the addition of the ESM compensated for the slightly weakened mechanical properties of the ESM/GG hydrogels. Meanwhile, due to the relatively low hydrophilicity of ESM, a 4 w/v% ESM enabled an ESM/GG hydrogel to swell 30% less than a pure GG hydrogel. Finally, the similarity in components between the ESM and RPE cells facilitated the proliferation of the latter without any significant cytotoxicity.
Highlights
The numbers of elderly people in many countries have grown more than ever before, as life expectancy is increasing with the steady development of medical techniques
We demonstrate that eggshell membranes (ESMs) extracted from natural eggshells have untapped potential to enhance gellan gum (GG) hydrogels’ degradability and biocompatibility while reducing scaffold swelling
Injectable hydrogels should have: (i) low viscosity, (ii) degradability, (iii) desirable mechanical properties to endure possible deformation arising from ocular movement, (iv) structural stability, and (v) biocompatibility [34]
Summary
The numbers of elderly people in many countries have grown more than ever before, as life expectancy is increasing with the steady development of medical techniques. Visual impairment has attracted a great deal of attention from researchers, as the number of patients suffering from visual impairment has skyrocketed over the past two decades [1] Today, it is common knowledge among public health practitioners that visual impairment among the elderly will have social costs, including but not limited to increased public health expenditures to directly remediate cases. It is common knowledge among public health practitioners that visual impairment among the elderly will have social costs, including but not limited to increased public health expenditures to directly remediate cases This has prompted the research community to explore diverse means of correcting visual impairment-related diseases, including surgery [2,3] and cell therapy [4,5]. RPE cells assume a diverse range of physiological functions, such as absorbing stray light [5], transporting materials [6], acting as a protective barrier [7], phagocytosing
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