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Updated: May 1, 2026
Self-reporting Scaffolds for 3-Dimensional Cell Culture
Published on: November 7, 2013
Self-assembled hydrogel fibers for sensing the multi-compartment intracellular milieu
Praveen Kumar Vemula1, Jonathan E Kohler2, Amy Blass3
11] Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Regenerative Therapeutics and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA [2] Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, 65 Landsdowne Street, PRB 313 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA [3] Harvard Stem Cell Institute, 1350 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA [4].
Abstract:
Targeted delivery of drugs and sensors into cells is an attractive technology with both medical and scientific applications. Existing delivery vehicles are generally limited by the complexity of their design, dependence on active transport, and inability to function within cellular compartments. Here, we developed self-assembled nanofibrous hydrogel fibers using a biologically inert, low-molecular-weight amphiphile. Self-assembled nanofibrous hydrogels offer unique physical/mechanical properties and can easily be loaded with a diverse range of payloads. Unlike commercially available E. coli membrane particles covalently bound to the pH reporting dye pHrodo, pHrodo encapsulated in self-assembled hydrogel-fibers internalizes into macrophages at both physiologic (37°C) and sub-physiologic (4°C) temperatures through an energy-independent, passive process. Unlike dye alone or pHrodo complexed to E. coli, pHrodo-SAFs report pH in both the cytoplasm and phagosomes, as well the nucleus. This new class of materials should be useful for next-generation sensing of the intracellular milieu.
