Effect of cold storage on collagen-based hydrogels for the three-dimensional culture of adipose-derived stem cells

Collagen gels have been extensively used as three-dimensional (3D) cell culture systems. To enhance their mechanical properties, the manufacture of collagen-based gels with agarose has been proposed. However, little is known about the stability of these gels under cold storage conditions. The consequences of cold storage on biological tissues for clinical applications are known to be significant; yet, they have not been considered on hydrogels used for in vitro experiments. This work studies the effect of extended cold storage on the stability of collagen and collagen-agarose hydrogels using rheometry and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, cell-matrix interactions of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSC) have been studied using these gels. Results show that both the storage modulus (G') and loss modulus (G″) of pure collagen gels gradually decrease with extended cold storage along the 30 days of the study, while G' and G″ increase in collagen-agarose gels under the same conditions. Moreover, significant changes in both moduli of collagen-agarose gels were only found after 30 days of cold storage, while in the case of collagen gels significant changes were already detected after 7 days. Finally, a reduction in the ability of ADSC to remodel the gel after prolonged cold storage was observed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work proving that cold storage of hydrogels prior to cell culture might have a significant impact on their mechanical properties and cell-matrix interactions.