As disease modeling, tissue engineering and lab on a chip systems advance, it is imperative that the new scaffolding systems are developed to establish long-term models. These scaffolds must be biocompatible, have limited and controlled degradation profiles, and should mimic the mechanical properties of the native tissue. As scaffolds are often combined with extracellular matrix proteins these systems must limit the contraction of ECM gels when cells are present and should be robust to allow researchers to manipulate the samples as needed.<br/><br/>We report a mechanically tunable chitin nanocrystal-enriched hydrogel made from pullulan covalently cross-linked by sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP). Chitin nanocrystals, products of the acid hydrolysis of chitin, were added to the hydrogel in various loading percentages. The viscoelastic properties of the crosslinked hydrogel nanocomposites were determined by linear rheology through frequency sweeps. The surface and internal morphology of the freeze-dried nanocomposite scaffolds were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The total amount of water that the hydrogels could hold and their ability to retain water was also characterized and found to be comparable to that of current crosslinked hydrogel systems. The neutral scaffolds also do not inhibit mammalian cell growth with routes for improving cell adhesion being explored. Pullulan is an extracellular polysaccharide, excreted by <i>Aureobasidium</i> and has been explored for stem cell encapsulation, and enhancing survival in high oxidative stress environments. Both pullulan and sodium trimetaphosphate are classified as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration. Chitin also has the pontential to be bioresorbed into the body through enzymatic degradation pathways and requires further study to determine its viability in tissue engineering applications. The prepared hydrogel nanocomposites scaffolds offer a unique pathway towards controlling scaffold mechanical properties, internal morphology, and water retention while being non-toxic to human cells.

Mechanically tunable pullulan-chitin nanocrystal scaffold for biological application

251st National Meeting (2016)

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