In situ forming spruce xylan-based hydrogel for cell immobilization

An in situ forming spruce xylan-based hydrogel was synthesized in two steps with the intended use of cell encapsulation and in vivo delivery. First, bioconjugate was obtained through the reaction of glucuronic acid groups from xylan backbone with tyramine (TA). After that, the gelation process was enabled by enzymatic crosslinking of the phenol-containing TA-xylan conjugate. Exhibiting an exponential increase in the storage modulus, a 3D gel network was formed in about 20 s. The designed gel showed extensive swelling and retained its mechanical integrity for more than two months. Mesenchymal stem cells were encapsulated in the hydrogel and cultured for one week. The cells retained their adipogenic differentiation capacity inside the gel, as verified by lipid accumulation. From these facts, we conclude that spruce xylan is a promising precursor for in situ forming hydrogels and should be evaluated further for tissue engineering purposes.