Effects of Structural Variations on the Cellular Response and Mechanical Properties of Biocompatible, Biodegradable, and Porous Smectic Liquid Crystal Elastomers

The authors report on series of side‐chain smectic liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) cell scaffolds based on star block‐copolymers featuring 3‐arm, 4‐arm, and 6‐arm central nodes. A particular focus of these studies is placed on the mechanical properties of these LCEs and their impact on cell response....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecular bioscience 2017-02, Vol.17 (2), p.1600278-n/a
Main Authors: Sharma, Anshul, Mori, Taizo, Mahnen, Cory J., Everson, Heather R., Leslie, Michelle T., Nielsen, Alek d., Lussier, Laurent, Zhu, Chenhui, Malcuit, Christopher, Hegmann, Torsten, McDonough, Jennifer A., Freeman, Ernest J., Korley, LaShanda T. J., Clements, Robert J., Hegmann, Elda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3D porous scaffolds
Animals
Biocompatibility
Biocompatible Materials - chemical synthesis
Biocompatible Materials - chemistry
Biocompatible Materials - pharmacology
Biodegradability
Block copolymers
Cell adhesion
cell alignment
cell directionality
Cell growth
Cell Line
Cell Movement - drug effects
Cell proliferation
Cell Proliferation - drug effects
Cellular structure
Cholesterol
Copolymers
Dermis - cytology
Elastomers
Elastomers - chemical synthesis
Elastomers - chemistry
Elastomers - pharmacology
Fibroblasts - cytology
Fibroblasts - drug effects
Humans
liquid crystal elastomers
Liquid Crystals - chemistry
Liquid Crystals - ultrastructure
Mechanical Phenomena
Mechanical properties
mechanics
Mice
Microscopy, Polarization
Myoblasts - cytology
Myoblasts - drug effects
Nodes
Porosity
Scaffolds
Scattering, Small Angle
Smectic liquid crystals
Stress, Mechanical
Temperature
X-Ray Diffraction
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Summary:The authors report on series of side‐chain smectic liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) cell scaffolds based on star block‐copolymers featuring 3‐arm, 4‐arm, and 6‐arm central nodes. A particular focus of these studies is placed on the mechanical properties of these LCEs and their impact on cell response. The introduction of diverse central nodes allows to alter and custom‐modify the mechanical properties of LCE scaffolds to values on the same order of magnitude of various tissues of interest. In addition, it is continued to vary the position of the LC pendant group. The central node and the position of cholesterol pendants in the backbone of ε‐CL blocks (alpha and gamma series) affect the mechanical properties as well as cell proliferation and particularly cell alignment. Cell directionality tests are presented demonstrating that several LCE scaffolds show cell attachment, proliferation, narrow orientational dispersion of cells, and highly anisotropic cell growth on the as‐synthesized LCE materials. Biocompatible and biodegradable liquid crystal elastomers are investigated as spatial cell scaffolds, promoting cell attachment, proliferation, and highly anisotropic cell growth. Tuning the mechanical properties allows the creation of 3D cell cultures for a wide range of cell lines related to various tissues.
ISSN:1616-5187
1616-5195
DOI:10.1002/mabi.201600278