Micropatterned three-dimensional culture in click-crosslinkable and photodegradable gelatin hydrogels

Abstract

This paper reports a novel click-crosslinkable and photodegradable gelatin hydrogels, which is useful for micropatterned three-dimensional culture. The azide-modified gelatin was prepared by mixing gelatin with Azide-PEG4-NHS ester solutions. The DBCO-PC-4armPEG was synthesized by the reaction between NHS-PC-4armPEG and DBCO-PEG4-amine. PD-gelatin was performed by mixing solutions of azide-modified gelatin and DBCO-PC-4armPEG in a 1:1 ratio. We successfully demonstrated the micropatterning of the photodegradable gelatin hydrogels and cell encapsulation in these hydrogels.