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Encapsulation of Cardiomyocytes in a Fibrin Hydrogel for Cardiac Tissue Engineering
Published on: September 19, 2011
Alginate-polyester comacromer based hydrogels as physiochemically and biologically favorable entities for cardiac
Finosh G Thankam1, Jayabalan Muthu1
1Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Polymer Science Division, BMT Wing, Thiruvananthapuram 695 012, Kerala State, India.
Abstract:
The physiochemical and biological responses of tissue engineering hydrogels are crucial in determining their desired performance. A hybrid comacromer was synthesized by copolymerizing alginate and poly(mannitol fumarate-co-sebacate) (pFMSA). Three bimodal hydrogels pFMSA-AA, pFMSA-MA and pFMSA-NMBA were synthesized by crosslinking with Ca(2+) and vinyl monomers acrylic acid (AA), methacrylic acid (MA) and N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (NMBA), respectively. Though all the hydrogels were cytocompatible and exhibited a normal cell cycle profile, pFMSA-AA exhibited superior physiochemical properties viz non-freezable water content (58.34%) and water absorption per unit mass (0.97 g water/g gel) and pore length (19.92±3.91 μm) in comparing with other two hydrogels. The increased non-freezable water content and water absorption of pFMSA-AA hydrogels greatly influenced its biological performance, which was evident from long-term viability assay and cell cycle proliferation. The physiochemical and biological favorability of pFMSA-AA hydrogels signifies its suitability for cardiac tissue engineering.
