Learning Objectives

Hydrogel development has become one of the most prominent fields in material research-related biological studies, with thousands of entries indexed in scientific research archives. Although the behavior of many systems is well studied, the manipulation of 3D networks, especially of sensitive protein-based materials, is often a major issue in material science. Another commonly underestimated challenge is the correct measurement of the native structure of a material using cryo electron microscopy. This is because the sample preparation (i.e., drying) process often changes the hydrogel properties. To overcome this problem, the material samples here were analyzed using confocal microscopy, a method that allows for the characterization of the material in its native, water-swollen state. Rhodamine B can bind to the hydrogel backbone via electrostatic interaction and facilitates the visualization of the material. To investigate the feasibility of a freeze-drying approach to modify this protein-based system, hydrogels were subsequently polymerized and frozen at 196 °C in liquid nitrogen and at -20 °C. The results show a clear influence of the freezing temperature on the resulting pore sizes. At -196 °C, small pores with a radius of about 10 µm and a narrow size distribution were produced. On the other hand, freezing at higher temperatures leads to the production of materials with much larger pores, whose radii are between 50 and 70 µm, as seen in Figure 1. The slow freezing process leads to the formation of larger ice crystals, which results in bigger pores within the material after the sublimation of the ice.

Another technique for pore generation, which is well-described for synthetic materials, is particle leaching. Solid particles like paraffin, gelatin, salt, or another solid-state material, are incorporated into the hydrogel prior to solidification. They are then eluted from the solid hydrogel by changing external conditions, such as temperature, Ph, or buffer composition by dilution. The BSA-based hydrogel was polymerized in the presence of high salt concentrations. After the sol-to-gel transition, salt crystals were removed from the material by adding an excess of water to dilute the crystals. This was followed by the confocal analysis of the resulting materials. The size of the salt crystals was changed by grinding NaCl with a mortar and pestle. As shown in Figure 2, the pore size can be tremendously changed using this method. Depending upon the crystals used (untreated or ground for a certain time), pore sizes from 10 to 70 µm could be produced. Appropriately sized pores are essential for many applications that feature the incorporation of cells into a hydrogel. However, more sophisticated structures might be needed when the creation of more complex structures is desired (e.g., to provide structural guidance for neuronal cells along a gradient). Complex architectures can often only be produced with special equipment (e.g., spin coating, electrospinning, lithographic, or bioprinting techniques). However, the production of linear channels can be realized with a simple freeze-drying approach and the use of dry ice. The channels produced have radii of about 20-30 µm and lengths of several hundreds of micrometers, as shown in Figure 3.

Another crucial feature of hydrogels is the biodegradability of the template matrix, both in vivo and in vitro¹. Protein hydrogels offer the advantage of being biodegradable. However, many systems lack fast degradation due to the restricted target sites within the material. Proteolytic agents must work their way from the outside of a material to the inside, resulting in very slow degradation times. In contrast, macroporous hydrogels are normally well-diffusible. This allows enzymes to target protein structures throughout the whole template simultaneously, which greatly reduces degradation times. For the presented protein-based hydrogel, the proteolytic degradation time depends mainly on the pore sizes within the matrix. A representative degradation kinetic is shown in Figure 4. Pore generation reduces the time from several days to a few hours for trypsin and pepsin degradation, as shown in Table 1.

The main benefit of hydrogels is the high water content within the materials, which is desirable to mimic the extracellular matrix²⁷. The swelling ratio represents the amount of water a gel can absorb and hold after drying and is a valid indicator of the free water content of a macroporous hydrogel. Furthermore, diffusion depends strongly upon the free water content and is required for the transport of nutrients towards the cells and the removal of toxic metabolites. The swelling ratio correlates directly with the pore size within the material, as shown in Table 1. By changing the pore size using the demonstrated methods, it is possible to alter the diffusion behavior in the template and thus to influence cell fate by manipulating their feed.

The stability of a hydrogel to external stimuli, such as pH and temperature changes, severely limits or expands the possible applications of a system. Particularly for application in a cell culture-related area, resistance to changes in the external parameters is essential, as cells and cell culture matrix mutually influence their properties and behavior (e.g., the acidification of the medium might lead to hydrogel degradation, and hydrogel degradation leads to cell release or death)²². To demonstrate the feasibility of the methods described here for pore generation, all hydrogel stabilities were determined for increasing temperatures (37 °C and 80 °C) and changing pH values (pH 2, 7, and 10). The residual weights of the hydrogels, which were treated using different methods, are summarized in Table 1. In conclusion, the presented protein-based hydrogels are stable over a wide range of conditions, while the residual weights of the hydrogels at high temperatures only reduce gradually. For the swelling ratio, it is important to consider that a partial unfolding might occur at higher temperatures, even if most BSA molecules should be held in place by the four-armed linker.

Whenever a macroporous hydrogel is intended for use in cell culture, the adhesion properties of the material play a crucial role in the individual application. Some materials bear inherent adhesion properties (e.g., heparin, short, extracellular matrix-derived peptide structures, or fibronectin)⁵. For those that do not have these features, the possibility to efficiently modify the material is desirable in order to introduce cell adhesion properties. One major advantage of protein hydrogels is the presence of a variety of accessible functional groups on the surface, which can be targeted by specific reactive linker molecules. Another option is the incorporation of cell adhesive peptides during polymerization, which can further facilitate the handling of the material and the production process, as only a single step is necessary to produce cell-adhesive materials. By using a four-armed, amine-reactive crosslinking agent²⁶, the cell adhesion mediating peptide (in this case, RGD) can be directly co-polymerized during hydrogel formation. This procedure results in the proper adhesion of the cells, as shown in Figure 5. Two model cell lines, human breast cancer cells (A549, CCL-185) and adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells (MCF 7, HTB-22) were used to investigate the general feasibility of using this modified hydrogel in 3D cell culture. Both cell lines showed very good adhesion potentials on the modified hydrogels.

Figure 1: Freeze-drying the hydrogels. After hydrogel polymerization, the gels were transferred to -196 °C (liquid nitrogen) or -20 °C. The material was stained with fluorescent rhodamine B and analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The size and distribution of the pores within the material were analyzed with imaging software and were plotted for the different temperatures. On the right side, representative pictures of the materials frozen at (A) -196 °C and (B) -20 °C are shown. The error bars represent the standard deviation. Scale bars = 50 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 2: Hydrogel particle leaching. Salt crystals are ground with a mortar and pestle for (A) 10 min, (B) 2 min, (C) 1 min, and (D) 0 min. Both hydrogel components are mixed, and the solution is saturated with salt crystals. After the polymerization of the materials, salt is eluted from the material by diluting the template in large amounts of deionized water. The material is stained with fluorescent rhodamine B and analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The size and distribution of the pores within the material were analyzed with imaging software and plotted for the different grinding times. Images A to D show the pores within representative hydrogels, where salt crystals of varying sizes were used. The error bars represent the standard deviation. Scale bars = 50 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 3: Channel formation. The polymerized hydrogels were transferred to a block of dry ice for 30 s. This was followed by the sublimation of the ice crystals from the structure at 0.05 mbar and -85 °C. The material was stained with fluorescent rhodamine B and analyzed with confocal laser scanning microscopy. The channels were several hundred microns long and had diameters of about 20 µm. Scale bars = 50 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 4: Enzymatic degradation. Representative degradation pattern of a macroporous hydrogel treated using a salt-leaching approach with ground salt crystals (10 min). Degradation took place in solution with 300 U trypsin and pepsin and was compared to an untreated hydrogel in PBS by measuring the residual weight of the material every hour. The error bars represent the standard deviation. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 5: Cellular behavior on hydrogels. To investigate the potential of the material in cell culture, hydrogels were functionalized with a cell-adhesive RGD peptide. The hydrogels were polymerized into a µ-slide 8 well and seeded with 2 x 10⁵/cm² A549 and MCF7 cells. The cells were allowed to grow and adhere to the material for 24 h. After fixation with 3.7% formaldehyde and permeabilization with 0.1% Triton X-100, the cells were stained with cell-specific phalloidin-rhodamine and were visualized with inverted confocal laser scanning microscopy at a wavelength of 514 nm. Scale bars = 50 µm. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Table 1: Hydrogel properties. To investigate the influence of the pore formation methods used here (top line), different types of hydrogels were investigated for their pH and temperature stabilities, swelling ratio, and enzymatic degradation pattern (left column). For pH values of 2, 7, and 10 and temperatures of RT, 37 °C, and 80 °C, the average residual weights of the hydrogels after 7 days are displayed as percentages. For enzymatic degradation, the half-lives (h) of the materials in 300 U trypsin and pepsin are shown. For the swelling ratios, the water uptakes based upon the dried gels are shown are percentages.