Abstract
The usage of gelatin hydrogel is limited due to its instability and poor mechanical properties, especially under physiological conditions. Divalent metal ions present in gelatin such as Ca2+ and Fe2+ play important roles in the gelatin molecule interactions. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of divalent ion removal on the stability and mechanical properties of gelatin gels with and without chemical crosslinking. The gelatin solution was purified by Chelex resin to replace divalent metal ions with sodium ions. The gel was then chemically crosslinked by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC). Results showed that the removal of divalent metal ions significantly impacted the formation of the gelatin network. The purified gelatin hydrogels had less interactions between gelatin molecules and form larger-pore network which enabled EDC to penetrate and crosslink the gel more efficiently. The crosslinked purified gels showed small swelling ratio, higher crosslinking density and dramatically increased storage and loss moduli. The removal of divalent ions is a simple yet effective method that can significantly improve the stability and strength of gelatin hydrogels. The in vitro cell culture demonstrated that the purified gelatin maintained its ability to support cell attachment and spreading.
Highlights
The usage of gelatin hydrogel is limited due to its instability and poor mechanical properties, especially under physiological conditions
Results showed that the removal of divalent metal ions could significantly enhance the storage and loss moduli as well as the stability of the gelatin hydrogels after chemical crosslinking without affecting the cell attachment on the gelatin hydrogel
The divalent ions concentration in gelatin was measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES)
Summary
The usage of gelatin hydrogel is limited due to its instability and poor mechanical properties, especially under physiological conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of divalent ion removal on the stability and mechanical properties of gelatin gels with and without chemical crosslinking. To increase its stability and mechanical properties, the gelatin gel can be covalently crosslinked by small chemicals such as carbodiimides, formaldehyde, and glutaraldehyde, which can couple the carboxyl groups with amino groups, forming stable amide bonds[12,13,14,15,16]. Results showed that the removal of divalent metal ions could significantly enhance the storage and loss moduli as well as the stability of the gelatin hydrogels after chemical crosslinking without affecting the cell attachment on the gelatin hydrogel. The objective of this study was to introduce a novel yet simple approach to increase the mechanical properties and stability of gelatin gels by removing divalent metal ions using Chelex resin. The cell attachment was observed by culturing human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), which are obtained
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