Hydrogels with Independently Controlled Adhesion Ligand Mobility and Viscoelasticity Increase Cell Adhesion and Spreading.

ABSTRACT: A primary objective in designing hydrogels for cell culture is recreating the cell-matrix interactions found within human tissues. Identifying the most important biomaterial features for these interactions is challenging because it is difficult to independently adjust variables such as matrix stiffness, stress relaxation, the mobility of adhesion ligands and the ability of these ligands to support cellular forces. In this work we designed a hydrogel platform consisting of interpenetrating polymer networks of covalently crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and self-assembled peptide amphiphiles (PA). We can tailor the storage modulus of the hydrogel by altering the concentration and composition of each network, and we can tune the stress relaxation half-life through the non-covalent bond

SUBMITTER: Moghaddam AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11463488 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature