Research Specifications

Influence of gelatin concentration and crosslinker ions of Ca2+ and Ba2+ was evaluated on characteristics of alginate hydrogels and proliferation behaviors of model adherent and suspandable stem cells of fibroblast and U937 embedded in alginate microcapsules. Increasing gelatin to 2.5% increased extent of swelling to 15% and 25% for barium and calcium-crosslinked hydrogels, respectively. Mechanical properties also decreased with increasing swelling of hydrogels. Both increasing gelatin concentration and using barium ion increased considerably the proliferation of encapsulated model stem cells. Barium-crosslinked alginate-gelatin microcapsule tested for bone building block showed 13.5±1.5- fold expansion for osteoblast cells after 21 days with deposition of bone matrix. The hematopoietic stem cells cultured in the microcapsule after 7 days also showed up to 2-fold increase without adding any growth factor. The study demonstrates barium-crosslinked alginate-gelatin microcapsule has potential for use as a simple and efficient 3D platform for stem cell production and modular tissue formation.