Reversibly assembled electroconductive hydrogel via host-guest interaction for 3D cell culture


Reversibly assembled electroconductive hydrogel via host-guest interaction for 3D cell culture

Xu, Y.; Cui, M.; Patsis, P.; Günther, M.; Yang, X.; Eckert, K.; Zhang, Y.

Study of cells responding to an electroconductive environment is impeded by the lack of method, which would allow
the encapsulation of cells in an ECM-like 3D electroactive matrix, and more challengingly, permit a simple mechanism to release cells for further characterization. Herein we report a polysaccharide-based conductive hydrogel system formed via cyclodextrinadamantane host-guest interaction. Oxidative polymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) in the presence of adamantyl modified sulfated alginate (S-Alg-Ad) results in bio-electroconductive polymer PEDOT:S-Alg-Ad, which can form hydrogel with poly-β-Cyclodextrin (pβ-CD). The PEDOT:S-Alg-Ad/ pβ-CD hydrogels can be tuned on aspects of mechanical and electrical properties, exhibit self-healing feature and are injectable. Electron microscopy suggested that the difference in stiffness and conductivity is associated with the nacre-like layered nano-structures when different sizes of PEDOT:S-Alg-Ad nanoparticles were used. Myoblasts C2C12 cells were encapsulated in the conductive hydrogel and exhibited proliferation rate comparable to that in non-conductive S-Alg-Ad/pβ-CD hydrogel. The cells could be released from the hydrogels by adding β-CD monomer, and the upregulations of most myogenic marker genes under differentiation condition were more remarkable than the non-conductive counterpart. Astonishingly, the conductive hydrogel can dramatically promote myotube-like structure formation, while the myocytes grow into large clusters in the non-electroconductive hydrogel. The ability to embed and release cells in an electroconductive environment will open new doors for cell culture and tissue engineering.

Keywords: host-guest; self-assembling; PEDOT; electroconductive hydrogel; 3D cell culture

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-27937
Publ.-Id: 27937