Genipin crosslinked polysaccharide hydrogels as rheologically enhanced osteoblast growth substrates

This paper aims to demonstrate how differences in rheological properties of the hydrogels affect cell growth, morphology and rates of mineralization of MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cells. To this end we developed hydrogels of varying degrees of crosslinking as determined by the ninhydrin assay. The hydrogels were made of Methylcellulose (75% w/w) Agarose (15% w/w) and Chitosan (10% w/w). The crosslinking was carried out using a naturally occurring Chitosan crosslinker, Genipin.