Sponchioni, M. orcid.org/0000-0002-8130-6495, O'Brien, C.T., Borchers, C. et al. (5 more authors) (2019) Probing the mechanism for hydrogel-based stasis induction in human pluripotent stem cells : is the chemical functionality of the hydrogel important? Chemical Science, 11 (1). pp. 232-240. ISSN 2041-6520
Abstract
It is well-known that pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hPSC) can differentiate into any cell type. Recently, we reported that hPSC colonies enter stasis when immersed in an extremely soft hydrogel comprising hydroxyl-functional block copolymer worms (I. Canton, N. J. Warren, A. Chahal, K. Amps, A. Wood, R. Weightman, E. Wang, H. Moore and S. P. Armes, ACS Centr. Sci., 2016, 2, 65–74). The gel modulus and chemical structure of this synthetic hydrogel are similar to that of natural mucins, which are implicated in the mechanism of diapause for mammalian embryos. Does stasis induction occur merely because of the very soft nature of such hydrogels or does chemical functionality also play a role? Herein, we address this key question by designing a new hydrogel of comparable softness in which the PGMA stabilizer chains are replaced with non-hydroxylated poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG]. Immunolabeling studies confirm that hPSC colonies immersed in such PEG-based hydrogels do not enter stasis but instead proliferate (and differentiate if no adhesion substrate is present). However, pluripotency is retained if an appropriate adhesion substrate is provided. Thus, the chemical functionality of the hydrogel clearly plays a decisive role in the stasis induction mechanism.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Biomedical Science (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/L024160/1 ACTION ON HEARING LOSS G78_Rivolta ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/R003009/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Jan 2020 11:37 |
Last Modified: | 20 Jan 2020 11:37 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/c9sc04734d |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:154957 |