Injectable 3D cell scaffolds possessing both electrical conductivity and native tissue-level softness would provide a platform to leverage electric fields to manipulate stem cell behavior. Granular hydrogels, which combine jamming-induced elasticity with repeatable injectability, are versatile materials to easily encapsulate cells to form injectable 3D niches. In this work, we demonstrate that electrically conductive granular hydrogels can be fabricated via a simple method involving fragmentation of a bulk hydrogel made from the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS. These granular conductors exhibit excellent shear-thinning and self-healing behavior, as well as record-high electrical conductivity for an injectable 3D scaffold material (~10 S m-1). Their granular microstructure also enables them to easily encapsulate induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural progenitor cells, which were viable for at least 5 days within the injectable gel matrices. Finally, we demonstrate gel biocompatibility with minimal observed inflammatory response when injected into a rodent brain.
Keyphrases
- tissue engineering
- hyaluronic acid
- stem cells
- inflammatory response
- cell therapy
- single cell
- high glucose
- diabetic rats
- white matter
- induced apoptosis
- drug induced
- endothelial cells
- cell cycle arrest
- oxidative stress
- drug delivery
- resting state
- multiple sclerosis
- signaling pathway
- bone marrow
- functional connectivity
- lps induced
- wound healing