Metal Cation Cross-Linked Nanocellulose Hydrogels as Tissue Engineering Substrates

The use of cellulose materials for biomedical applications is attractive due to their low cost, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Specific processing of cellulose to yield nanofibrils further improves mechanical properties and suitability as a tissue engineering substrate due to the similarity to the fibrous structure, porosity, and size-scale of the native extracellular matrix. In order to generate the substrate, nanocellulose hydrogels were fabricated from carboxylated cellulose nanofibrils via hydrogelation using metal salts. Hydrogels cross-linked with Ca2+ and Fe3+ were investigated as tissue culture substrates for C3H10T1/2 fibroblast cells. Control substrates as well as those with physically adsorbed and covalently attached fibronectin protein were evaluated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Significantly more cells were attached to surfaces modified with protein, with the highest number of cells adhered to the calcium cross-linked hydrogels with covalently attached protein.