Comparative study of the in vitro interaction of two fibroblast cell lines with a polyalkyl-imide hydrogel.

The in vitro effects of polyalkyl-imide hydrogel (PAI) containing 96% pyrogen-free water on the viability, apoptosis, cell shape and metabolic activities of murine 3T3 and human Detroit 555 fibroblasts were investigated. Analysis of the viscous-elastic properties and the ultrastructure of PAI, performed by rheometer and AFM respectively, showed that the material has the typical characteristics of hydrogel, including a three-dimensional configuration of molecules arranged in a regular network with many discrete caveolae where most of the water is captured. Hydrogel biocompatibility was found to be high for both cell lines, with some differences.

Structural and rheological characterization of hyaluronic acid-based scaffolds for adipose tissue engineering.

In this study the attention has been focused on the ester derivative of hyaluronic acid (HA), HYAFF11, as a potential three-dimensional scaffold in adipose tissue engineering. Different HYAFF11 sponges having different pore sizes, coated or not coated with HA, have been studied from a rheological and morphological point of view in order to correlate their structure to the macroscopic and degradation properties both in vitro and in vivo, using rat model. The in vitro results indicate that the HYAFF11 sponges possess proper structural and mechanical properties to be used as scaffolds for adipose tissue engineering and, among all the analysed samples, uncoated HYAFF11 large-pore sponges showed a longer lasting mechanical stability.