Analytical Sciences

Design of Tetra-arm PEG-crosslinked Thermoresponsive Hydrogel for 3D Cell Culture

Aya Mizutani AKIMOTO,* Erika HASUIKE,** Hiroto TADA,* Kenichi NAGASE,*** Teruo OKANO,*** Hideko KANAZAWA,** and Ryo YOSHIDA*

*Department of Materials Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
**Department of Pharmacy, Keio University, 1-5-30 Shibakoen, Minato, Tokyo 105-8512, Japan
***Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan

We synthesized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel containing cell-adhesive peptides, RGDS pendants, and crosslinked by a hydrophilic polymer. Since gelation occurs by simply mixing the polymers, cells can be simultaneously encapsulated inside the gel during gelation. This gel has roughly a 15% volume change between 25 and 37°C, and is transparent at both temperatures. Moreover, adhesion of encapsulated C2C12 cells to the gel could be observed. This thermoresponsive gel would be potentially useful as a cell culture material that can control cell fate by changing mechanical properties of the cell’s external environment.

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