Influence of mechanical properties of alginate-based substrates on the performance of Schwann cells in culture

Abstract

In tissue engineering, artificial tissue scaffolds containing living cells have been studied for tissue repair and regeneration. Notably, the performance of these encapsulated-in-scaffolds cells in terms of cell viability, proliferation, and expression of function during and after the scaffold fabrication process, has not been well documented because of the influence of mechanical, chemical, and physical properties of the scaffold substrate materials. This paper presents our study on the influence of mechanical properties of alginate-based substrates on the performance of Schwann cells, which are the major glial cells of peripheral nervous system. Given the fact that alginate polysaccharide hydrogel has poor cell adhesion properties, in this study, we examined several types of cell-adhesion supplements and found that alginate covalently modified with RGD peptide provided improved cell proliferation and adhesion. We prepared alginate-based substrates for cell culture using varying alginate concentrations for altering their mechanical properties, which were confirmed by compression testing. Then, we examined the viability, proliferation, morphology, and expression of the extracellular matrix protein laminin of Schwann cells that were seeded on the surface of alginate-based substrates (or 2D culture) or encapsulated within alginate-based substrates (3D cultures), and correlated the examined cell performance to the alginate concentration (or mechanical properties) of hydrogel substrates. Our findings suggest that covalent attachment of RGD peptide can improve the success of Schwann cell encapsulation within alginate-based scaffolds, and provide guidance for regulating the mechanical properties of alginate-based scaffolds containing Schwann cells for applications in peripheral nervous system regeneration and repair.

Keywords:

• Tissue scaffold
• mechanical properties
• viability
• proliferation
• morphology
• function

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF). We also thank Ms Peng Zhai and Dr. Ajay Rajaram for their valuable technical assistance to the present study.