The influence of hydrogel modulus on the proliferation and differentiation of encapsulated neural stem cells

Abstract There has been an increasing interest in understanding how the mechanical properties of the microenvironment influence stem cell fate. We describe studies of the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) encapsulated within three-dimensional scaffolds – alginate hydrogel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiomaterials Vol. 30; no. 27; pp. 4695 - 4699
Main Authors Banerjee, Akhilesh, Arha, Manish, Choudhary, Soumitra, Ashton, Randolph S, Bhatia, Surita R, Schaffer, David V, Kane, Ravi S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2009
Subjects
Advanced Basic Science
Alginate
Alginates - chemistry
Animals
Cell Differentiation
Cell Proliferation
Dentistry
Differentiation
Elastic Modulus
Female
Glucuronic Acid - chemistry
Hexuronic Acids - chemistry
Hydrogel
Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate - chemistry
Intermediate Filament Proteins - metabolism
Microscopy, Confocal
Modulus
Nerve Tissue Proteins - metabolism
Nestin
Neurons - cytology
Proliferation
Rats
Rats, Inbred F344
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Stem cells
Stem Cells - cytology
Tubulin - genetics
Tubulin - metabolism
Alginate
Hydrogel
Proliferation
Differentiation
Modulus
Stem cells
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Summary:Abstract There has been an increasing interest in understanding how the mechanical properties of the microenvironment influence stem cell fate. We describe studies of the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) encapsulated within three-dimensional scaffolds – alginate hydrogels – whose elastic moduli were varied over two orders of magnitude. The rate of proliferation of neural stem cells decreased with increase in the modulus of the hydrogels. Moreover, we observed the greatest enhancement in expression of the neuronal marker β-tubulin III within the softest hydrogels, which had an elastic modulus comparable to that of brain tissues. To our knowledge, this work represents the first demonstration of the influence of modulus on NSC differentiation in three-dimensional scaffolds. Three-dimensional scaffolds that control stem cell fate would be broadly useful for applications in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
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ISSN:0142-9612
1878-5905
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.05.050