Stepwise Stiffening/Softening of and Cell Recovery from Reversibly Formulated Hydrogel Interpenetrating Networks.

ABSTRACT: Biomechanical contributions of the extracellular matrix underpin cell growth and proliferation, differentiation, signal transduction, and other fate decisions. As such, biomaterials whose mechanics can be spatiotemporally altered- particularly in a reversible manner- are extremely valuable for studying these mechanobiological phenomena. Herein, a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel model consisting of two interpenetrating step-growth networks is introduced that are independently formed via largely orthogonal bioorthogonal chemistries and sequentially degraded with distinct recombinant sortases, affording reversibly tunable stiffness ranges that span healthy and diseased soft tissues (e.g., 500 Pa-6 kPa) alongside terminal cell recovery for pooled and/or single-cell analysis in a nea

SUBMITTER: Kopyeva I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11530321 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature