3D Hydrogels Containing Interconnected Microchannels of Subcellular Size for Capturing Human Pathogenic Acanthamoeba Castellanii.

ABSTRACT: Porous hydrogel scaffolds are ideal candidates for mimicking cellular microenvironments, regarding both structural and mechanical aspects. We present a novel strategy to use uniquely designed ceramic networks as templates for generating hydrogels with a network of interconnected pores in the form of microchannels. The advantages of this new approach are the high and guaranteed interconnectivity of the microchannels, as well as the possibility to produce channels with diameters smaller than 7 μm. Neither of these assets can be ensured with other established techniques. Experiments using the polyacrylamide substrates produced with our approach have shown that the migration of human pathogenic Acanthamoeba castellanii trophozoites is manipulated by the microchannel structure in the hyd

SUBMITTER: Gutekunst SB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6457568 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature