Engineering Biodegradable and Biocompatible Bio-ionic Liquid Conjugated Hydrogels with Tunable Conductivity and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

Conventional methods to engineer electroconductive hydrogels (ECHs) through the incorporation of conductive nanomaterials and polymers exhibit major technical limitations. These are mainly associated with the cytotoxicity, as well as poor solubility, processability, and biodegradability of their components. Here, we describe the engineering of a new class of ECHs through the functionalization of non-conductive polymers with a conductive choline-based bio-ionic liquid (Bio-IL). Bio-IL conjugated hydrogels exhibited a wide range of highly tunable physical properties, remarkable in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility, and high electrical conductivity without the need for additional conductive components. The engineered hydrogels could support the growth and function of primary cardiomyocytes in both two dimentinal (2D) and three dimensional (3D) cultures in vitro. Furthermore, they were shown to be efficiently biodegraded and possess low immunogenicity when implanted subcutaneously in rats. Taken together, our results suggest that Bio-IL conjugated hydrogels could be implemented and readily tailored to different biomedical and tissue engineering applications.

Visible Light Cross‐Linking of Gelatin Hydrogels Offers an Enhanced Cell Microenvironment with Improved Light Penetration Depth

“…The cell‐laden constructs were fixed in 10% formalin for 1 h at RT and washed in PBS supplemented with 0.1 m glycine. For histological evaluation, the samples were embedded in OCT, then cryo‐sectioned (30 µm thick sections) . Sections were incubated in 0.1 wt% hyaluronidase for 30 min at RT, washed with PBS, and blocked with 2 wt% BSA in PBS for 1 h at RT.…”

“…However, LAP has limited molar absorptivity in a narrow visible light range (ε ≈ 30 m −1 cm −1 at 405 nm), resulting in the need of using high concentrations to fabricate hydrogels . On the other hand, although eosin‐Y has a much higher molar absorptivity (ε ≈ 100 000 m −1 cm −1 at 525 nm), it often requires the presence of both a co‐initiator (triethanolamine) and a co‐monomer ( N ‐vinylpyrrolidone or N ‐vinylcaprolactam) to facilitate methacryloyl‐based photo‐polymerization . In contrast, another emerging visible light–initiating system, consisting of a ruthenium (Ru)‐based transition metal complex (ε ≈ 14 600 m −1 cm −1 at 450 nm) and sodium persulfate (SPS), has shown potential for tissue engineering applications .…”

Synthesis and characterization of osteoinductive visible light‐activated adhesive composites with antimicrobial properties

“…MC3T3 cells were then seeded on top of the hydrogels at a concentration of 2 × 10 6 cell/ml and maintained in complete alpha‐MEM media. For 3D encapsulation, MC3T3 cells were encapsulated in 8‐μl hydrogels on 3‐(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate‐coated slides at a density of 5 × 10 6 cell/ml (Noshadi, Walker, et al, ).…”

Glial cells in the heart? Replicating the diversity of the myocardium with low-cost 3D models

“…Primary CMs and adherent cardiac cells (ACCs) were isolated from two-day old (p2) Sprague-Dawley neonatal rat (Charles River) hearts, following a modified protocol by Noshadi et el. 24 and approved by Northeastern's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). In brief, the thorax was opened and the heart was removed.…”

“…SCs have been evaluated at the bench as a cell therapy for cardiac failure 37,46 and make up a substantial composition of the heart 5,7 . Often cells isolated from the heart are characterized as either CMs or cardiac FBs 22,24,33,34,47,48 , but in fact these populations are heterogeneous and contain fewer than 20% FBs. For this reason, we aimed to establish a new nomenclature for this cell isolation protocol in which suspension cells are referred to as enriched CMs and the adherent cells are referred to as adherent cardiac cells (ACCs).…”