Microscale Strategies for Generating Cell-Encapsulating Hydrogels

Polymers

ᘎila Selimović²  Jonghyun Oh²  Hojae Bae¹  Mehmet Dokmeci² 

[1] Department of Maxillofacial Biomedical Engineering and Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Korea;Center for Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;

关键词: hydrogel;    lab-on-a-chip;    micromolding;    microfluidics;    cell encapsulation;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym4031554

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Hydrogels in which cells are encapsulated are of great potential interest for tissue engineering applications. These gels provide a structure inside which cells can spread and proliferate. Such structures benefit from controlled microarchitectures that can affect the behavior of the enclosed cells. Microfabrication-based techniques are emerging as powerful approaches to generate such cell-encapsulating hydrogel structures. In this paper we introduce common hydrogels and their crosslinking methods and review the latest microscale approaches for generation of cell containing gel particles. We specifically focus on microfluidics-based methods and on techniques such as micromolding and electrospinning.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.