Synthetic Hydrogels with Highly Bioactive Basement Membrane Functionality

摘要

We have developed an approach to non-covalently incorporate basement membrane proteins onto synthetic PEG hydrogels. This method retains a superior level of bioactivity to covalent methods of protein and/or peptide attachment. Furthermore, these modifications are robust, reproducible, and extend only a short distance into the hydrogel bulk, suggesting that they would not adversely affect the survival of encapsulated cells. Our versatile method of hydrogel modification can be easily adapted to a wide range of proteins, hydrogel chemistries, and cell types. We believe that this technique can significantly improve tissue-engineered models of epithelial and endothelial barriers.