Hydrogel Design to Understand and Guide 3D Cell Migration

The extracellular environment is critical for cell migration in three-dimensions (3D), which has been understudied when compared to cell migration on two-dimensional (2D) substrates. In 3D, cells must degrade or remodel their surroundings to overcome barriers to migration or find paths that act as migration routes.

We performed a literature search for studies related to the engineering of hydrogels to understand and control cell migration.

This review highlights the cell-intrinsic machinery that is required for migration, describes how cell migration can be modeled in vitro, and provides examples where hydrogels have been designed with permissive extracellular cues that enhance cell migration for biomedical applications.

Hydrogels can be engineered to mimic many features of the extracellular space to help us better understand the interplay between cells and their environment and interpret how these complex processes support or limit cell migration. With this understanding, hydrogels can be designed to guide cellular migration, particularly in the context of tissue repair and regenerative medicine.

Cell movement is important in both healthy and diseased tissues. An understanding of how cells migrate and the development of methods to control their migration can be utilized to improve patient therapies in the future in applications such as tissue repair and regeneration. Hydrogels are water-swollen materials that mimic many features of tissues. This allows their use to understand how cells respond to various features in their environment, as well as for therapeutic materials in tissue repair. This review highlights advances on these topics.