Bioconjugation of Carbohydrates to Gelatin Sponges Promoting 3D Cell Cultures

Abstract

Gelatin sponges are widely employed as hemostatic agents, and are gaining increasing interest as 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering. To broaden their possible application in the field of tissue engineering, a straightforward synthetic protocol able to anchor the disaccharides, maltose and lactose, for specific cell interactions was developed. A high conjugation yield was confirmed by 1H-NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy, and the morphology of the resulting decorated sponges was characterized by SEM. After the crosslinking reaction, the sponges preserve their porous structure as ascertained by SEM. Finally, HepG2 cells cultured on the decorated gelatin sponges show high viability and significant differences in the cellular morphology as a function of the conjugated disaccharide. More spherical morphologies are observed when cultured on maltose-conjugated gelatin sponges, while a more flattened aspect is discerned when cultured onto lactose-conjugated gelatin sponges. Considering the increasing interest in small-sized carbohydrates as signaling cues on biomaterial surfaces, systematic studies on how small carbohydrates might influence cell adhesion and differentiation processes could take advantage of the described protocol.

A Study on Thiol‐Michael Addition to Semi‐Synthetic Elastin‐Hyaluronan Material for Electrospun Scaffolds

“…Based on the skills acquired in amino acids, [18] peptides, [19] and protein [20] conjugation to carbohydrates, and starting from the semi-synthesis of ELAHA, herein we present a study exploiting the reactivity of methacrylamide and methacrylate linkers in the presence of a water-soluble alkylphosphine such as TCEP • HCl. This latter is typically employed both as a catalyst [21] and as reducing agent [22] in bioconjugation reactions, even though its efficiency is controversial.…”