During tissue development, stem and progenitor cells form functional tissue with high cellular diversity and intricate micro- and macro-architecture. Current approaches have attempted to replicate this process with materials cues or through spontaneous cell self-organization. However, cell-directed and materials-directed organization are required simultaneously to achieve biomimetic structure and function. Here, it is shown how integrating live adipose derived stem cells with gradient microgel suspensions steers divergent differentiation outcomes. Microgel matrices composed of small particles are found to promote adipogenic differentiation, while larger particles fostered increased cell spreading and osteogenic differentiation. Tuning the matrix formulation demonstrates that early cell adhesion and spreading dictate differentiation outcome. Combining small and large microgels into gradients spatially directs proliferation and differentiation over time. After 21 days of culture, osteogenic conditions foster significant mineralization within the individual microgels, thereby providing cell-directed changes in composition and mechanics within the gradient porous scaffold. Freeform printing of high-density cell suspensions is performed across these gradients to demonstrate the potential for hierarchical tissue biofabrication. Interstitial porosity influences cell expansion from the print and microgel size guides spatial differentiation, thereby providing scope to fabricate tissue gradients at multiple scales through integrated and printed cell populations.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202201122 | DOI Listing |
Adv Mater
December 2024
Dynamic Colloidal Systems Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247667, India.
The design of chemomechanical self-oscillators, which execute oscillations in the presence of constant stimuli lacking periodicity, is a step toward the development of autonomous and interactive soft robotic systems. This work presents a simple design of prolonged chemomechanical oscillatory movement in a microgel system capable of buoyant motility within stratified chemical media containing spatially localized sinking and floating stimuli. Three design elements are developed: a stimuli-responsive membranized calcium alginate microgel, a Percoll density gradient for providing stratified antagonistic chemical media, and transduction of microgel particle size actuation into buoyant motility via membrane-mediated displacement of the Percoll media.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomed Mater
November 2024
Materials Engineering Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, United States of America.
Thiol-norbornene photoclick hydrogels are highly efficient in tissue engineering applications due to their fast gelation, cytocompatibility, and tunability. In this work, we utilized the advantageous features of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-thiol-ene resins to enable fabrication of complex and heterogeneous tissue scaffolds using 3D bioprinting and in-air drop encapsulation techniques. We demonstrated that photoclickable PEG-thiol-ene resins could be tuned by varying the ratio of PEG-dithiol to PEG norbornene to generate a wide range of mechanical stiffness (0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Mater
October 2024
Institute of Biofunctional Polymer Materials/Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Hohe Str. 6, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
Concentration gradients of soluble signaling molecules-morphogens-determine the cellular organization in tissue development. Morphogen-releasing microgels have shown potential to recapitulate this principle in engineered tissue constructs, however, with limited control over the molecular cues in space and time. Inspired by the functionality of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) in morphogen signaling in vivo, a library of sGAG-based microgels is developed and designated as µGel Units to Instruct Development (µGUIDEs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
August 2024
Institute of Nanotechnology, National Research Council (CNR-NANOTEC), c/o Campus Ecotekne, via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Fluorescence imaging allows for noninvasively visualizing and measuring key physiological parameters like pH and dissolved oxygen. In our work, we created two ratiometric fluorescent microsensors designed for accurately tracking dissolved oxygen levels in 3D cell cultures. We developed a simple and cost-effective method to produce hybrid core-shell silica microparticles that are biocompatible and versatile.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Polym Mater
August 2024
Grupo de Física de Fluidos y Biocoloides, Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
The efficient transport of small molecules through dense hydrogel networks is crucial for various applications, including drug delivery, biosensing, catalysis, nanofiltration, water purification, and desalination. In dense polymer matrices, such as collapsed microgels, molecular transport follows the solution-diffusion principle: Molecules dissolve in the polymeric matrix and subsequently diffuse due to a concentration gradient. Employing dynamical density functional theory (DDFT), we investigate the nonequilibrium release kinetics of nonionic subnanometer-sized molecules from a microgel particle, using parameters derived from prior molecular simulations of a thermoresponsive hydrogel.
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