Calcium sulfate microparticle size modification for improved alginate hydrogel fabrication and its application in 3D cell culture  

作　　者：Joo Ho Kim Siddharth Iyer Christian Tessman Shashank Vummidi Lakshman Heemin Kang Luo Gu 

机构地区：[1]Department of Materials Science and Engineering,Johns Hopkins University,3400 N Charles St,Baltimore,MD 21218,USA [2]Institute for NanoBioTechnology,Johns Hopkins University,3400 N Charles St,Baltimore,MD 21218,USA [3]Department of Materials Science and Engineering,Korea University,Seoul 02841,Republic of Korea [4]Translational Tissue Engineering Center,Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,400 N.Broadway,Baltimore,MD 21231,USA

出　　处：《Frontiers of Materials Science》2025年第1期41-50,共10页材料学前沿(英文版)

基　　金：supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R03AG073834;the National Heart,Lung,and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R56HL169764;the Air Force Office of Scientific Research award FA9550-24-1-0286;the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund 2024-MSCRFL-6272.

摘　　要：Calcium ion-crosslinked alginate hydrogels are widely used as a materials system for investigating cell behavior in 3D environments in vitro.Suspensions of calcium sulfate particles are often used as the source of Ca2+to control the rate of gelation.However,the instability of calcium sulfate suspensions can increase chances of reduced homogeneity of the resulting gel and requires researcher’s proficiency.Here,we show that ball-milled calcium sulfate microparticles(MPs)with smaller sizes can create more stable crosslinker suspensions than unprocessed or simply autoclaved calcium sulfate particles.In particular,15μm ball-milled calcium sulfate MPs result in gels that are more homogeneous with a balanced gelation rate,which facilitates fabrication of gels with consistent mechanical properties and reliable performance for 3D cell culture.Overall,these MPs represent an improved method for alginate hydrogel fabrication that can increase experimental reliability and quality for 3D cell culture.

关 键 词：calcium sulfate dehydrate ball milling particle suspension alginate hydrogel 3D culture viscoelastic hydrogel 

分 类 号：O63[理学—高分子化学]