Injectable PEG Hydrogels with Tissue‐Like Viscoelasticity Formed through Reversible Alendronate–Calcium Phosphate Crosslinking for Cell–Material Interactions

TY - JOUR

T1 - Injectable PEG Hydrogels with Tissue‐Like Viscoelasticity Formed through Reversible Alendronate–Calcium Phosphate Crosslinking for Cell–Material Interactions

AU - Yu, Hongqiang

AU - Yan, Ziqian

AU - Dreiss, Cecile A.

AU - Gaitano, Gustavo G.

AU - Jarvis, James A.

AU - Gentleman, Eileen

AU - Da silva, Ricardo M. P.

AU - Grigoriadis, Agamemnon E.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

PY - 2024/9/1

Y1 - 2024/9/1

N2 - Synthetic hydrogels provide controllable 3D environments, which can be used to study fundamental biological phenomena. The growing body of evidence that cell behavior depends upon hydrogel stress relaxation creates a high demand for hydrogels with tissue-like viscoelastic properties. Here, a unique platform of synthetic polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels in which star-shaped PEG molecules are conjugated with alendronate and/or RGD peptides, attaining modifiable degradability as well as flexible cell adhesion, is created. Novel reversible ionic interactions between alendronate and calcium phosphate nanoparticles, leading to versatile viscoelastic properties with varying initial elastic modulus and stress relaxation time, are identified. This new crosslinking mechanism provides shear-thinning properties resulting in differential cellular responses between cancer cells and stem cells. The novel hydrogel system is an improved design to the other ionic crosslink platforms and opens new avenues for the development of pathologically relevant cancer models, as well as minimally invasive approaches for cell delivery for potential regenerative therapies.

AB - Synthetic hydrogels provide controllable 3D environments, which can be used to study fundamental biological phenomena. The growing body of evidence that cell behavior depends upon hydrogel stress relaxation creates a high demand for hydrogels with tissue-like viscoelastic properties. Here, a unique platform of synthetic polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels in which star-shaped PEG molecules are conjugated with alendronate and/or RGD peptides, attaining modifiable degradability as well as flexible cell adhesion, is created. Novel reversible ionic interactions between alendronate and calcium phosphate nanoparticles, leading to versatile viscoelastic properties with varying initial elastic modulus and stress relaxation time, are identified. This new crosslinking mechanism provides shear-thinning properties resulting in differential cellular responses between cancer cells and stem cells. The novel hydrogel system is an improved design to the other ionic crosslink platforms and opens new avenues for the development of pathologically relevant cancer models, as well as minimally invasive approaches for cell delivery for potential regenerative therapies.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85195843015

U2 - 10.1002/adhm.202400472

DO - 10.1002/adhm.202400472

M3 - Article

SN - 2192-2640

VL - 13

JO - Advanced Healthcare Materials

JF - Advanced Healthcare Materials

IS - 22

M1 - 2400472

ER -