TY - JOUR
T1 - Macroporous click-elastin-like hydrogels for tissue engineering applications
AU - Fernández-Colino, Alicia
AU - Wolf, Frederic
AU - Keijdener, Hans
AU - Rütten, Stephan
AU - Schmitz-Rode, Thomas
AU - Jockenhoevel, Stefan
AU - Rodríguez-Cabello, J. Carlos
AU - Mela, Petra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Elastin is a key extracellular matrix (ECM) protein that imparts functional elasticity to tissues and therefore an attractive candidate for bioengineering materials. Genetically engineered elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) maintain inherent properties of the natural elastin (e.g. elastic behavior, bioactivity, low thrombogenicity, inverse temperature transition) while featuring precisely controlled composition, the possibility for biofunctionalization and non-animal origin. Recently the chemical modification of ELRs to enable their crosslinking via a catalyst-free click chemistry reaction, has further widened their applicability for tissue engineering. Despite these outstanding properties, the generation of macroporous click-ELR scaffolds with controlled, interconnected porosity has remained elusive so far. This significantly limits the potential of these materials as the porosity has a crucial role on cell infiltration, proliferation and ECM formation. In this study we propose a strategy to overcome this issue by adapting the salt leaching/gas foaming technique to click-ELRs. As result, macroporous hydrogels with tuned pore size and mechanical properties in the range of many native tissues were reproducibly obtained as demonstrated by rheological measurements and quantitative analysis of fluorescence, scanning electron and two-photon microscopy images. Additionally, the appropriate size and interconnectivity of the pores enabled smooth muscle cells to migrate into the click-ELR scaffolds and deposit extracellular matrix. The macroporous structure together with the elastic performance and bioactive character of ELRs, the specificity and non-toxic character of the catalyst-free click-chemistry reaction, make these scaffolds promising candidates for applications in tissue regeneration. This work expands the potential use of ELRs and click chemistry systems in general in different biomedical fields.
AB - Elastin is a key extracellular matrix (ECM) protein that imparts functional elasticity to tissues and therefore an attractive candidate for bioengineering materials. Genetically engineered elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) maintain inherent properties of the natural elastin (e.g. elastic behavior, bioactivity, low thrombogenicity, inverse temperature transition) while featuring precisely controlled composition, the possibility for biofunctionalization and non-animal origin. Recently the chemical modification of ELRs to enable their crosslinking via a catalyst-free click chemistry reaction, has further widened their applicability for tissue engineering. Despite these outstanding properties, the generation of macroporous click-ELR scaffolds with controlled, interconnected porosity has remained elusive so far. This significantly limits the potential of these materials as the porosity has a crucial role on cell infiltration, proliferation and ECM formation. In this study we propose a strategy to overcome this issue by adapting the salt leaching/gas foaming technique to click-ELRs. As result, macroporous hydrogels with tuned pore size and mechanical properties in the range of many native tissues were reproducibly obtained as demonstrated by rheological measurements and quantitative analysis of fluorescence, scanning electron and two-photon microscopy images. Additionally, the appropriate size and interconnectivity of the pores enabled smooth muscle cells to migrate into the click-ELR scaffolds and deposit extracellular matrix. The macroporous structure together with the elastic performance and bioactive character of ELRs, the specificity and non-toxic character of the catalyst-free click-chemistry reaction, make these scaffolds promising candidates for applications in tissue regeneration. This work expands the potential use of ELRs and click chemistry systems in general in different biomedical fields.
KW - Cell ingrowth
KW - Click-chemistry
KW - Elastin
KW - Elastin-like recombinamers
KW - Macroporous scaffolds
KW - Salt-leaching/gas foaming
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044172004&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.msec.2018.03.013
DO - 10.1016/j.msec.2018.03.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 29636129
AN - SCOPUS:85044172004
SN - 0928-4931
VL - 88
SP - 140
EP - 147
JO - Materials Science and Engineering C
JF - Materials Science and Engineering C
ER -