Cell-laden microgels

Du, Y. A., E. Lo et al. 2008. Directed assembly of cell-laden microgels for fabrication of 3D tissue constructs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(28) 9522-9527. 

Another important application of polymer particles produced by MF methods involves the encapsulation of cells in the interior of polymer microgels and/or the encapsulation of cells with enzymes, cytokines, and extracellular matrix. While the specific requirements of the properties of cell-laden microgels depend on the type... 

Cell-laden microgels can function as modules in tissue engineering, in which microgels carrying distinct types of cells can be combined in a highly controllable manner [77], with proliferation densities of 10 -10 cells/cm (that are comparable to those of native tissue). In addition, the composition and the structure of microgels can be conveniently varied to mimic the properties and functions of the extracellular matrix. 

Figure 8.10 Microfluidic generation of micro-gel-based cellular microenvironments with varying internal compositions, (a) Co-emulsification of two cell suspensions to achieve control over the ratio of co-encapsulated "red" and green" cells by varying the volumetric flow rates of the suspensions, Qr and gc. respectively, (b) Control of the mechanical properties of cell-laden microgels achieved by varying agarose concentration in the micro-...

Zamanian, B., M. Masaeli et al. 2010. Interface-directed self-assembly of cell-laden microgels. Small 6(8) 937-944. 

Rossow, T, Heyman, J.A., Ehrlicher, A.J., Langhoff, A., Weitz, D.A., Haag, R., Seiffert, S. Controlled synthesis of cell-laden microgels by radical-free gelation in droplet microfluidics. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134(10), 4983-4989 (2012)... 

Importantly, MF encapsulation of cells in microgels offers the capability to create vast libraries of cellular microenvironments with a broad range of compositions and physical properties. The strategy is schematically shown in Figure 8.10 for agarose microgels obtained by thermosetting of cell-laden aqueous droplets... 

Figure 8.11 Co-encapsulation of mES cells in microgels achieved at varying flow rate ratios of the corresponding cell suspensions, (a—e) Relative fluorescence intensity plots of R and C channels for sorted microgels laden with R1 mES cells labeled with Vybrant CFDA or CellTracker Orange CMTMR (G and R cells, respectively). The microgels were produced at the respective flow rate ratios of the R and G streams (a) eR 2c = 0 l (b) Qr 2c = 1 4 (c)2R 2G = l l (d) 2R 2o = 4 l (e) 2r 2c = 1 0- Gating was determined by positive controls comprising cells labeled with only...

In an attempt to use PG microgels as scaffolds for the synthesis of ceU-laden microparticles, Steinhilber et al. [29] applied the microfluidic approach to fabricate miaogels that were highly loaded with yeast cells. The polymer matrix allowed the cells to metabolize so that a good percentage of the cells stayed alive for more than 12h after the particle formation. 

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