The authors generated hydrogels with a heterogeneity in nanopore size and local stiffness. The hererogeneity is obtained by mixing two parts of the dextran polymer with different amounts of available crosslinking sites. C2C12 myoblast cells were cultured in these hydrogels for several days. Compared to homogeniously crosslinked hydrogels the so called crosslinker-clustered hydrogels induced differences in cell spreading, cell shape and gene expression of markers relevant for differentiation in myogenesis. The authors show how the design of 3-D Life hydrogel nanostructures can be used to guide cell behavior and differentiation.Publications
Wang et al. (2020) Quantitatively Designed Cross-Linker-Clustered Maleimide–Dextran Hydrogels for Rationally Regulating the Behaviors of Cells in a 3D Matrix. ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 3: 5759−5774 (Link) Applications
Myogenesis, durotaxis, nanostructure design, mechanotransduction
Methods
Fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy, rheology, fluorescent staining (phalloidin), fluorescence imaging, image analysis, recovery of cells from hydrogel by dextranase digestion, immunocytochemistry, formaldehyde fixation, AFM (atomic force microscopy), fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
Cells
C2C12 (myoblasts, murine)
Products used
3-D Life Dextran-CD Hydrogel FG
3-D Life RGD Peptide
3-D Life Dextranase
3-D Life Thioglycerol
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