Human embryonic stem (hES) cells can serve as an unlimited supply of cells for regenerative medicine, drug screening, and understanding developmentally regulated events. This potential results from the ability of hES cells to self-renew indefinitely in culture, and then differentiate into desired cell types. Exploiting the full potential of hES cells is limited by the use of poorly-defined animal products that raise concern over the transmission of animal pathogens and immunogens. Here we synthesized a polyacrylamide hydrogel scaffold that supports hES cell propagation under chemically-defined conditions. This synthetic hydrogel functions by simultaneously engaging cell surface integrins and glycosaminoglycans to robustly support hES cell adhesion and self-renewal. Human ES cells cultured for extended periods on the hydrogel scaffold express pluripotency markers, remain karyotypically normal, and differentiate into all three embryonic germ layers. Development of such defined matrix can enable propagation and differentiation of hES cells for biomedical and tissue engineering applications.

Synthetic polymer scaffold supports human embryonic stem cell adhesion and proliferation in defined conditions

244th National Meeting (2012)

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