In vitro study of the interactions of galactosylated thermo-responsive hydrogels with cells

The aim of this work is to explore the ability of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (NIPAAm) with galactosylated acrylate (GAC) hydrogels as cell scaffolds for HL-7702 cells to proliferate, keep function of albumin and urea synthesis and detach. The results indicate poly(NIPAAm-co-GAC) hydrogels with weight ratio of 0.2 could support cells to adhere, proliferate and maintain their liver functions for 7 days. An intact cells sheet could spontaneously detach from poly(NIPAAm-co-GAC) (r = 0.2) hydrogels without treating with any enzymes. And detached cells show more integrate morphology (H&E staining) and higher proliferation index (cell cycle analysis) than cells detached by trypsin treatment. The results also reveal excessive GAC introduced to PNIPAAm hydrogels could induce apoptotic cell death of adhered cells.