Controlled Synthesis of Cell-Laden Microgels by Radical-Free Gelation in Droplet Microfluidics

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2012 papers

Abstract

Micrometer-sized hydrogel particles that contain living cells can be fabricated with exquisite control through the use of droplet-based microfluidics and bioinert polymers such as polyethyleneglycol (PEG) and hyperbranched polyglycerol (hPG). However, in existing techniques, the microgel gelation is often achieved through harmful reactions with free radicals. This is detrimental for the viability of the encapsulated cells. To overcome this limitation, we present a technique that combines droplet microfluidic templating with bio-orthogonal thiol-ene click reactions to fabricate monodisperse, cell-laden microgel particles. The gelation of these microgels is achieved via the nucleophilic Michael addition of dithiolated PEG macro-cross-linkers to acrylated hPG building blocks and does not require any initiator. We systematically vary the microgel properties through the use of PEG linkers with different molecular weights along with different concentrations of macromonomers to investigate the influence of these parameters on the viability and proliferation of encapsulated yeast cells. We also demonstrate the encapsulation of mammalian cells including fibroblasts and lymphoblasts.

Related Papers

• → Dispersity in polymer science (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)(2009)306 cited
• → Precise Control of Both Dispersity and Molecular Weight Distribution Shape by Polymer Blending(2021)11 cited
• → Dispersity in polymer science (IUPAC Recommendation 2009)(2009)33 cited
• → Polydispersity in size-exclusion chromatography: A stochastic approach(2014)7 cited
• → The study of the polydispersity of polymers by viscometry(1960)24 cited