Design of three-dimensional engineered protein hydrogels for tailored control of neurite growth.

ABSTRACT: The design of bioactive materials allows tailored studies probing cell-biomaterial interactions, however, relatively few studies have examined the effects of ligand density and material stiffness on neurite growth in three-dimensions. Elastin-like proteins (ELPs) have been designed with modular bioactive and structural regions to enable the systematic characterization of design parameters within three-dimensional (3-D) materials. To promote neurite out-growth and better understand the effects of common biomaterial design parameters on neuronal cultures we here focused on the cell-adhesive ligand density and hydrogel stiffness as design variables for ELP hydrogels. With the inherent design freedom of engineered proteins these 3-D ELP hydrogels enabled decoupled investigations into the effec

SUBMITTER: Lampe KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3926440 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature