Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO 80303 USA
2. BioFrontiers Institute University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO 80303 USA
3. Medical Scientist Training Program School of Medicine University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora CO 80045 USA
4. Materials Science and Engineering Program University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO 80303 USA
Abstract
AbstractWhile many hydrogels are elastic networks crosslinked by covalent bonds, viscoelastic hydrogels with adaptable crosslinks are increasingly being developed to better recapitulate time and position‐dependent processes found in many tissues. In this work, 1,2‐dithiolanes are presented as dynamic covalent photocrosslinkers of hydrogels, resulting in disulfide bonds throughout the hydrogel that respond to multiple stimuli. Using lipoic acid as a model dithiolane, disulfide crosslinks are formed under physiological conditions, enabling cell encapsulation via an initiator‐free light‐induced dithiolane ring‐opening photopolymerization. The resulting hydrogels allow for multiple photoinduced dynamic responses including stress relaxation, stiffening, softening, and network functionalization using a single chemistry, which can be supplemented by permanent reaction with alkenes to further control network properties and connectivity using irreversible thioether crosslinks. Moreover, complementary photochemical approaches are used to achieve rapid and complete sample degradation via radical scission and post‐gelation network stiffening when irradiated in the presence of reactive gel precursor. The results herein demonstrate the versatility of this material chemistry to study and direct 2D and 3D cell‐material interactions. This work highlights dithiolane‐based hydrogel photocrosslinking as a robust method for generating adaptable hydrogels with a range of biologically relevant mechanical and chemical properties that are varied on demand.
Funder
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
National Institutes of Health
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,General Materials Science
Cited by
30 articles.
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