Impact of Whey Protein on the Physico-Mechanical Properties of Alginate Dialdehyde Scaffolds and Cell Adhesion for Cultivated Meat Applications

This article highlights the advantages of incorporating whey protein conjugation into polysaccharide hydrogels to enhance cell adhesion for cultivated meat applications. Here we show, for the first time, that controlling Schiff-base bond formation between whey protein isolate (WPI) and alginate dialdehyde (AlgDA) created hydrogel materials with significant differences in physico-mechanical properties including equilibrium swell ratio, hydrolytic weight loss, axial stiffness, and strength. The newly formed bonds retain WPI within the hydrogel network and limit leaching of non-bound protein. In addition, AlgDA went through a secondary crosslinking step via the introduction of divalent cations. Immortalized bovine satellite cells (iBSCs) cultured on WPI-modified materials indicated higher metabolic activity and adhesion. The results show significant advantages of WPI to encourage cell adhesion and warrant further investigation for cultivated meat research and production.