Injectable chitin hydrogels with self-healing property and biodegradability as stem cell carriers

Xuefeng Yang; Hongye Yang; Xueyu Jiang; Boguang Yang; Kunkun Zhu; Nathanael Chun-Him Lai; Cui Huang; Chunyu Chang; Liming Bian; Lina Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117574

Injectable chitin hydrogels with self-healing property and biodegradability as stem cell carriers

Carbohydr Polym. 2021 Mar 15:256:117574. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117574. Epub 2020 Dec 30.

Authors

Xuefeng Yang¹, Hongye Yang², Xueyu Jiang³, Boguang Yang⁴, Kunkun Zhu³, Nathanael Chun-Him Lai⁴, Cui Huang⁵, Chunyu Chang⁶, Liming Bian⁷, Lina Zhang⁸

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Engineering Center of Natural Polymer-based Medical Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China; Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China.
² College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Engineering Center of Natural Polymer-based Medical Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China; The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology (Hubei-MOST) & Key Laboratory for Oral Biomedical Ministry of Education, School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
³ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Engineering Center of Natural Polymer-based Medical Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China.
⁵ The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology (Hubei-MOST) & Key Laboratory for Oral Biomedical Ministry of Education, School & Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China.
⁶ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Engineering Center of Natural Polymer-based Medical Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China. Electronic address: changcy@whu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China. Electronic address: lbian@cuhk.edu.hk.
⁸ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Engineering Center of Natural Polymer-based Medical Materials, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China. Electronic address: zhangln@whu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33483069
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.117574

Abstract

To meet the demands of various therapeutic tasks, injectable hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties and degradability are highly desired. Herein, we developed an injectable chitin hydrogel system with well-manipulated mechanical properties and degradability through dynamic acylhydrazone crosslinking catalyzed by 4-amino-DL-phenylalanine (Phe-NH₂). The mechanical properties and degradability of the hydrogels could be easily adjusted by varying the solid content, while their gelation time could be maintained at a constant level (∼130 s) by altering Phe-NH₂ content, thereby ensuring the good injectability of hydrogels. Moreover, the chitin hydrogels showed excellent self-healing capacity with a healing efficiency up to 95 %. Owing to their superior biocompatibility and biodegradability, the chitin hydrogels could support the proliferation and multi-potent differentiations of rat bone marrow-derived stem cells, serving as a beneficial 3D scaffold for stem cell encapsulation and delivery. This work provides a promising injectable delivery vehicle of therapeutic drugs or cells for tissue regenerative medicine.

Keywords: Chitin; Dynamic acylhydrazone bonds; Enzymatic biodegradation; Injectable hydrogels; Self-healing; Stem cell differentiation.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biocompatible Materials / chemistry*
Cell Differentiation
Cell Proliferation
Cells, Cultured
Chitin / chemistry*
Cross-Linking Reagents / chemistry*
Hydrazones / chemistry
Hydrogels / chemistry*
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Mesenchymal Stem Cells / cytology*
Powders
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Rheology
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Stress, Mechanical

Substances

Biocompatible Materials
Cross-Linking Reagents
Hydrazones
Hydrogels
Powders
Chitin