Porous gelatin hydrogels: 2. In vitro cell interaction study

Peter Dubruel, R. Unger, Sandra Van Vlierberghe, Veerle Cnudde, Patric J.S. Jacobs, Etienne Schacht, C. J. Kirkpatrick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

170 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on the feasibility of applying porous gelatin hydrogels, prepared by a novel and controlled cryogenic treatment, as cell-interactive scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. Despite the large number of publications on gelatin as a biomaterial, a detailed study of screening a limited number of gelatin scaffolds for their interaction with a panel of human cells has, to the best of our knowledge, not yet been published. In the present work, we have evaluated two types of porous gelatin scaffolds that differ in their pore geometry and pore size. Type I hydrogels contained top-to-bottom transverse channels (i.e. cones) with a decreasing diameter from the top (330,μm) to the bottom (20-30 μm). Type II hydrogels contained spherical pores with a diameter of 135,μm. Both types of scaffolds were evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscopy in terms of adhesion, spreading, and proliferation of human cells (endothelial, epithelial, fibroblast, glial, and osteoblast) by visualizing cells using calcein-acetoxy methyl ester as a vital stain. The results indicated that cells attached, spread, and proliferated on bothn types of hydrogels. In addition, the scaffolds developed can be used for the long-term culturing of human cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)338-344
Number of pages7
JournalBiomacromolecules
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2007
Externally publishedYes

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