Synthetic hydrogels engineered to promote collecting lymphatic vessel sprouting.

ABSTRACT: The lymphatic vasculature is an essential component of the body's circulation providing a network of vessels to return fluid and proteins from the tissue space to the blood, to facilitate immune ce-ll and antigen transport to lymph nodes, and to take up dietary lipid from the intestine. The development of biomaterial-based strategies to facilitate the growth of lymphatics either for regenerative purposes or as model system to study lymphatic biology is still in its nascent stages. In particular, platforms that encourage the sprouting and formation of lymphatic networks from collecting vessels are particularly underdeveloped. Through implementation of a modular, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogel, we explored the independent contributions of matrix elasticity, degradability, and adh

SUBMITTER: Hooks JST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9134840 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature