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Thermoresponsive, in situ cross-linkable hydrogels based on N-isopropylacrylamide: fabrication, characterization and mesenchymal stem cell encapsulation.

ABSTRACT: Hydrogels that solidify in response to a dual, physical and chemical, mechanism upon temperature increase were fabricated and characterized. The hydrogels were based on N-isopropylacrylamide, which renders them thermoresponsive, and contained covalently cross-linkable moieties in the macromers. The effects of the macromer end group, acrylate or methacrylate, and the fabrication conditions on the degradative and swelling properties of the hydrogels were investigated. The hydrogels exhibited higher swelling below their lower critical solution temperature (LCST). When immersed in cell culture medium at physiological temperature, which was above their LCST, hydrogels showed constant swelling and no degradation over 8 weeks, with the methacrylated hydrogels showing greater swelling than their acrylated analogs. In addition, hydrogels immersed in cell culture medium under the same conditions showed lower swelling compared with phosphate-buffered saline. The interplay between chemical cross-linking and thermally induced phase separation affected the swelling characteristics of the hydrogels in different media. Mesenchymal stem cells encapsulated in the hydrogels in vitro were viable over 3 weeks and markers of osteogenic differentiation were detected when the cells were cultured with osteogenic supplements. Hydrogel mineralization in the absence of cells was observed in cell culture medium with the addition of fetal bovine serum and ?-glycerol phosphate. The results suggest that these hydrogels may be suitable as carriers for cell delivery in tissue engineering.

SUBMITTER: Klouda L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3050091 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Thermoresponsive, in situ cross-linkable hydrogels based on N-isopropylacrylamide: fabrication, characterization and mesenchymal stem cell encapsulation.

Klouda Leda L Perkins Kevin R KR Watson Brendan M BM Hacker Michael C MC Bryant Stephanie J SJ Raphael Robert M RM Kasper F Kurtis FK Mikos Antonios G AG

Acta biomaterialia 20101225 4

Hydrogels that solidify in response to a dual, physical and chemical, mechanism upon temperature increase were fabricated and characterized. The hydrogels were based on N-isopropylacrylamide, which renders them thermoresponsive, and contained covalently cross-linkable moieties in the macromers. The effects of the macromer end group, acrylate or methacrylate, and the fabrication conditions on the degradative and swelling properties of the hydrogels were investigated. The hydrogels exhibited highe ...[more]

PMID: 21187170

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Project description:We report the development of thermoresponsive magnetic hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) encapsulation of Fe3O4 magnetic nanostructures (MNS). In particular, we examined the effects of hydrogels encapsulated with poly-ethylene glycol (PEG) and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) surface modified Fe3O4 MNS on magnetic resonance (MR) T2 (transverse spin relaxation) contrast enhancement and associated delivery efficacy of absorbed therapeutic cargo. The microstructural characterization reveal the regular spherical shape and size (?200 nm) of the hydrogels with elevated hydrophilic to hydrophobic transition temperature (?40 °C) characterized by LCST (lower critical solution temperature) due to the presence of encapsulated MNS. The hydrogel-MNS (HGMNS) system encapsulated with PEG functionalized Fe3O4 of 12 nm size (HGMNS-PEG-12) exhibited relaxivity rate (r2) of 173 mM(-1) s(-1) compared to 129 mM(-1) s(-1) obtained for hydrogel-MNS system encapsulated with POSS functionalized Fe3O4 (HGMNS-POSS-12) of the same size. Further studies with HGMNS-PEG-12 with absorbed drug doxorubicin (DOX) reveals approximately two-fold enhance in release during 1 h RF (radio-frequency) field exposure followed by 24 h incubation at 37 °C. Quantitatively, it is 2.1 ?g mg(-1) (DOX/HGMNS) DOX release with RF exposure while only 0.9 ?g mg(-1) release without RF exposure for the same period of incubation. Such enhanced release of therapeutic cargo is attributed to micro-environmental heating in the surroundings of MNS as well as magneto-mechanical vibrations under high frequency RF inside hydrogels. Similarly, RF-induced in vitro localized drug delivery studies with HeLa cell lines for HGMNS-PEG-12 resulted in more than 80% cell death with RF field exposures for 1 h. We therefore believe that magnetic hydrogel system has in vivo theranostic potential given high MR contrast enhancement from encapsulated MNS and RF-induced localized therapeutic delivery in one nanoconstruct.

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Thermoresponsive, in situ cross-linkable hydrogels based on N-isopropylacrylamide: fabrication, characterization and mesenchymal stem cell encapsulation.

Publications

Thermoresponsive, in situ cross-linkable hydrogels based on N-isopropylacrylamide: fabrication, characterization and mesenchymal stem cell encapsulation.

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