Abstract
Hydrogel microfibers have great potential for applications such as tissue engineering or three-dimensional cell culturing. Their favorable attributes can lead to tissue models that can help to reduce or eliminate animal testing, thereby providing an eco-friendly alternative to this unsustainable process. In addition to their highly tunable mechanical properties, this study shows that varying the viscosity and flow rates of the prepolymer core solution and gellator sheath solution within a microfluidic device can affect the surface topology of the resulting microfibers. Higher viscosity core solutions are more resistant to deformation from shear force within the microfluidic device, thereby yielding smoother fibers. Similarly, maintaining a smaller velocity gradient between the fluids within the microfluidic device minimizes shear force and smooths fiber surfaces. This simple modification provides insight into manufacturing microfibers with highly tunable properties.
Highlights
Hydrogel-based microfibers have become promising tools in a variety of fields, such as tissue engineering and 3D cell culturing methods
The surface topology of alginate microfibers was readily tunable by adjusting the viscosity of the alginate core fluid, or by changing the flow rate ratio (FRR) so that the velocity gradient between the core and sheath fluids is larger
As past literature has suggested, there is a key relationship between the viscosity of the core fluid used within microfluidic microfiber fabrication techniques and the surface topologies of the resulting fibers [24]
Summary
Hydrogel-based microfibers have become promising tools in a variety of fields, such as tissue engineering and 3D cell culturing methods Their favorable attributes stem from their high surface-to-area ratio, rapid diffusion gradients and strong potential for biocompatibility [1,2,3]. Their contributions to biomedical fields far have included the encapsulation or seeding of bioactive molecules [4,5], cells [1,6,7,8], or bacteria [9]; their properties allow for the creation of a microenvironment that mimics conditions within the body, providing an extracellular-matrix (ECM) inspired scaffold for arranging and guiding cell growth, proliferation and differentiation [1,3,6,7]. Scaffoldings provide a method of mass experimentation while utilizing drastically fewer material needs and operating at a higher efficiency, thereby increasing the sustainable development of biomedical research through this energy-friendly technology
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