Gelatin methacrylate scaffold for bone tissue engineering: The influence of polymer concentration

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A Vol. 106; no. 1; pp. 201 - 209
• Main Authors: Celikkin, Nehar, Mastrogiacomo, Simone, Jaroszewicz, Jakub, Walboomers, X. Frank, Swieszkowski, Wojciech
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Alkaline phosphatase; Bioassays; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Bone marrow; bone tissue engineering; Bones; Calcification; Calcium; Colorimetry; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Deposition; Differentiation; DNA; effect of polymer concentration; Extracellular matrix; Gelatin; GelMA hydrogels; Hydrogels; Light intensity; Luminous intensity; Mechanical properties; Mesenchyme; Polymers; Pore size; Porosity; Scaffolds; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Tissue engineering; Ultraviolet radiation; µCT imaging of hydrogels; GelMA hydrogels; µCT imaging of hydrogels; bone tissue engineering; effect of polymer concentration
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.36226
• ISSN: 1549-3296

Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) is an inexpensive, photocrosslinkable, cell‐responsive hydrogel which has drawn attention for a wide range of tissue engineering applications. The potential of GelMA scaffolds was demonstrated to be tunable for different tissue engineering (TE) applications through modifying the polymer concentration, methacrylation degree, or UV light intensity. Despite the promising results of GelMA hydrogels in tissue engineering, the influence of polymer concentration for bone tissue engineering (BTE) scaffolds was not established yet. Thus, in this study, we have demonstrated the effect of polymer concentration in GelMA scaffolds on osteogenic differentiation. We prepared GelMA scaffolds with 5 and 10% polymer concentrations and characterized the scaffolds in terms of porosity, pore size, swelling characteristics, and mechanical properties. Subsequent to the scaffolds characterization, the scaffolds were seeded with bone marrow derived rat mesenchymal stem cells and cultured in osteogenic media to evaluate the possible osteogenic differentiation effect exerted by the polymer concentration. After 7, 14, 21, and 28 days, DNA content, calcium deposition, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of scaffolds were evaluated quantitatively by colorimetric bioassays. Furthermore, the distribution of the calcium deposition within the scaffolds was attained qualitatively and quantitatively by microcomputer tomography (µCT). Our data suggest that GelMA hydrogels prepared with 5% polymer concentration has promoted homogeneous extracellular matrix calcification and it is a great candidate for BTE applications. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 201–209, 2018.