Comparative study of gelatin methacrylate hydrogels from differentsources for biofabrication applications

摘要

Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel is a promising bioink for biofabrication applications due to itscost-effectiveness, ease of synthesis and biocompatibility to allow cell adhesion. However, the GelMAsynthesized from a widely used porcine skin gelatin has a thermal gelation problem at roomtemperature. Here, we present thermally stable GelMA hydrogels at room temperature whilemaintaining the mechanical and biological properties comparable to porcine GelMA. The novelGelMA hydrogels were synthesized from fish skin and cold soluble gelatin. We systematicallycharacterized the properties of the GelMA hydrogels from different sources. The properties includethe degree of methacrylation, compressive Young’s modulus, mass swelling ratio, viscosity, and celladhesion and proliferation in 2D and 3D microenvironments. It has been found that the cold solubleGelMA was comparable to the porcine skin GelMA but could offer low viscosity and thermal stabilityat room temperature. We performed a droplet generation experiment to demonstrate the benefit ofusing the cold soluble GelMA for biofabrication. The cold soluble GelMA showed a more reliable andstable droplet fabrication process. Taken together, the cold soluble GelMA is a promising bioinksolution and may greatly benefit the research in biofabrication.