1. Interface-directed self-assembly of cell-laden microgels
- Author
-
Mahdokht Masaeli, Hojae Bae, Ali Khademhosseini, Jason W. Nichol, Matthew J. Hancock, Masoud Khabiry, and Behnam Zamanian
- Subjects
Directed self assembly ,Materials science ,Tissue Engineering ,Tissue Scaffolds ,Cell Survival ,Interface (computing) ,Nanotechnology ,Hydrogels ,General Chemistry ,Fibroblasts ,Cell aggregation ,Full paper ,Article ,Biomaterials ,Mice ,Self-healing hydrogels ,NIH 3T3 Cells ,Animals ,General Materials Science ,Self-assembly ,Cell encapsulation ,Cell survival ,Biotechnology ,Cell Aggregation - Abstract
Cell-laden hydrogels show great promise for creating engineered tissues. However, a major shortcoming with these systems has been the inability to fabricate structures with controlled microscale features on a biologically relevant length scale. Here we demonstrate a rapid method for creating centimeter-scale, cell-laden hydrogels through the assembly of shape-controlled microgels. This was achieved by using an approach that uses the liquid-air interface of a hydrophobic solution to drive the assembly of microgels. Cell-laden microgels of specific shapes were randomly placed on the surface of a high density, hydrophobic solution and induced to aggregate and were subsequently crosslinked into macroscale tissue-like structures. The resultant assemblies were cell-laden hydrogel sheets consisting of tightly-packed ordered microgel units. In addition, a hierarchical approach created complex multi-gel building blocks which were then assembled into tissues with precise spatial control over the cell distribution. These data demonstrate that forces at an air-liquid interface can be used to self-assemble spatially controllable, co-cultured tissue-like structures.
- Published
- 2010