Temporal and spatial control over fiber alignment within hyaluronic acid hydrogels using magnetic fields

Abstract

Wound healing is tightly regulated in both space and time. To mimic this behavior, we designed magnetically-responsive, fiber–hydrogel composites. When covalently crosslinked hydrogels were combined with layer-by-layer stacking, we demonstrated precise spatial control over fiber orientation. For temporal control, we used non-covalently crosslinked hydrogels to enable in situ fiber alignment.