A composite hydrogel membrane with shape and water retention for corneal tissue engineering

Li Jiang; Xiaoli Dong; Luxia Chen; Ruifang Han; Pen Hao; Liming Wang; Juan Gao; Xi Chen; Xuan Li

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17950

A composite hydrogel membrane with shape and water retention for corneal tissue engineering

Heliyon. 2023 Jul 5;9(7):e17950. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17950. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Li Jiang^{1

2

3}, Xiaoli Dong^{1

2

3}, Luxia Chen^{1

2

3}, Ruifang Han^{1

2

3}, Pen Hao^{1

2

3}, Liming Wang^{1

2

3}, Juan Gao^{1

2

3}, Xi Chen^{1

2

3}, Xuan Li^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Collage of Ophthalmology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
² Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin Eye Institute, Tianjin Eye Hospital, Tianjin, China.
³ Nankai University Affiliated Eye Hospital, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) cornea is one of the most potential alternatives to the shortage of corneal donors in cornea transplantation. Sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel is commonly used as scaffold in TE. Herein, we present an approach to construct a composite hydrogel, which with SA fiber skeleton structure for shape retention and gelatin surface modification for water retention. The light transmittance, water retention rate, and swelling rate of hydrogels were characterized, and the tensile mechanical properties were also investigated. Keratinocytes were treated with material extract liquor and the results showed that the gelatin modified SA hydrogel has good cytocompatibility. Furthermore, human corneal stromal fibroblasts (HCSFs) from the lenticules were implanted on the surface of gels, and the SA-gelatin hydrogel significantly improved the adhesion and spreading of HCSFs. Finally, we discussed the improvement and application prospect of the composite hydrogel as cornea equivalents.

Keywords: Cornea transplantation; Hydrogel; Sodium alginate; Spherification; Tissue engineering.