Thermo-reversible injectable hydrogel composing of pluronic F127 and carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan for cell-encapsulation.

This study demonstrated a novel injectable-thermoreversible hydrogel scaffold composing of PLuronic F127, carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan (CA) and glyoxal (Gx) for encapsulating human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells. The hydrogel was prepared by simply mixing CA, F127 and Gx. In so doing, this system exhibited short gelation time and higher gelation temperature. In addition, this hydrogel exhibited thermo-reversibility, that is, the hydrogel can liquefy at room temperature and revert to gel state at body temperature. The encapsulated cells in this hydrogel proliferated more than 400% in the 5-day incubation. Based on these results, these F127/CA/Gx hydrogels can be used to encapsulate cells for tissue engineering applications.

Evaluation of hydrogel composing of Pluronic F127 and carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan as injectable scaffold for tissue engineering applications.

This study demonstrated a novel hydrogel system composing of Pluronic F127, carboxymethyl hexanoyl chitosan (CA) and glutaraldehyde (GA) for encapsulating fibroblasts (L-929). The thermal behavior of the hydrogel was evaluated using TGA, the swelling behavior of the hydrogel was evaluated in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's medium (DMEM), and the mechanical properties were determined through dynamic mechanical analysis. Cells were encapsulated by simple mixing, and the viability of encapsulated cells was determined using alamar blue cell viability assay and the cells morphology was examined using fluorescent imaging. The results indicated that the Tgel of this system was around 30°C, where sol-gel transformation occurred within 90s. Although the addition of CA and GA reduced the shear moduli slightly, the F127/CA/GA gel was able to remain in gelling state in the medium for more than 1 month. In vitro cell culture study revealed that F-127/CA/GA hydrogels were non-cytotoxic. Moreover, the viability of encapsulated L929 was 106% after incubation for 5 days. Based on these results, these F127/CA/GA hydrogels can be used to encapsulate cells for tissue engineering applications.