Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 14: Cell mechanics I

BP 14.4: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 3. April 2019, 10:15–10:30, H10

Tuning Mechanics and Biochemical Recognition using Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels — •Martin Schilling and Florian Rehfeldt — Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany

Many aspects of cell behavior are influenced by the mechanical properties of their microenvironment. To mimic the various elastic Young's moduli E of different in vivo environments of cells, it is necessary to design and mechanically characterize hydrogels for cell culture that are biocompatible and allow for a tunable elasticity.

Hyaluronic acid (HA), a polysaccharide consisting of disaccharide units, was chosen as base for the hydrogel system as it is biocompatible and not toxic for cells, thus allowing for 3D encapsulation.

Native HA hydrogels exhibit a visco-elasticity at the lower end of the physiologically relevant stiffness range. Here, we show that by chemical modification and subsequent covalent cross-linking, we can cover the required range from 0.1 kPa to 100 kPa. Additionally, altering the degree of modification of HA allows distinct and independent tuning of Young's modulus and biochemical recognition of HA by cells. Mixtures of both high and low modified HA are examined to combine both properties. The gelation kinetics of the resulting hydrogels are investigated by rheology using oscillatory shear tests both in the low and high strain (LAOS) regime. The resulting influence of mechanics and biochemistry of those HA substrates are investigated with hMSCs and RPM-MCs.