Large Polyacrylamide Hydrogels for Large‐Batch Cell Culture and Mechanobiological Studies

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience Vol. 23; no. 9; pp. e2300042 - n/a
• Main Authors: Shi, Xuechen, Janmey, Paul A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Biophysics; Cell culture; Cell Culture Techniques - methods; Cell interactions; Cell morphology; Cell proliferation; Contractility; Cytology; Extracellular matrix; Hydrogels; Mechanical properties; mechanobiology; Modulus of elasticity; Polyacrylamide; polyacrylamide hydrogels; Reproducibility of Results; Rigidity; Stiffness; Substrates; mechanobiology; stiffness; cell culture; polyacrylamide hydrogels
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202300042

The rigidity of a cell's substrate or extracellular matrix plays a vital role in regulating cell and tissue functions. Polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels are one of the most widely used cell culture substrates that provide a physiologically relevant range of stiffness. However, it is still arduous and time‐consuming to prepare PAAm substrates in large batches for high‐yield or multiscale cell cultures. In this communication, a simple method to prepare PAAm hydrogels with less time cost and easily accessible materials is presented. The hydrogel is mechanically uniform and supports cell culture in a large batch. It is further shown that the stiffness of the hydrogel covers a large range of Young's modulus and is sensed by cells, regulating various cell features including changes in cell morphology, proliferation, and contractility. This method improves the reproducibility of mechanobiology studies and can be easily applied for mechanobiology research requiring large numbers of cells or experimental groups. An improved method to produce hydrogels with tunable elastic moduli for cell culture studies is presented. This method avoids the costly and labor‐intensive need for chemically treating glass coverslips and produces much larger surfaces, suitable for preparing cells in sufficient numbers for protein analyses. Examples of mechanosensing by multiple cell types illustrate the improvised utility of these gels.