Phototunable Viscoelasticity in Hydrogels Through Thioester Exchange.

ABSTRACT: Mechanical cues are delivered to resident cells by the extracellular matrix and play an important role in directing cell processes, ranging from embryonic development and cancer metastasis to stem cell differentiation. Recently, cellular responses to viscoelastic and elastic mechanical cues have been studied; however, questions remain as to how cells identify and transduce these cues differently. We present a synthetic cell culture substrate with viscoelastic properties based on thioester exchange chemistry that can be modulated in situ with the photoinitiated thiol-ene 'click' reaction. With this method, stress relaxation in thioester hydrogels with an average relaxation time of 740,000 s can be switched off in the presence of cells without change to the elastic modulus. NIH 3T3 fibroblas

SUBMITTER: Carberry BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7334082 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature