Synthetic Thermo-Responsive Terpolymers as Tunable Scaffolds for Cell Culture Applications

The use of tailored synthetic hydrogels for in vitro tissue culture and biomanufacturing provides the advantage of mimicking the cell microenvironment without issues of batch-to-batch variability. To that end, this work focused on the design, characterization, and preliminary evaluation of thermo-responsive, transparent synthetic terpolymers based on N-isopropylacrylamide, vinylphenylboronic acid, and polyethylene glycol for cell manufacturing and in vitro culture applications. Polymer physical properties were characterized by FT-IR, H-1-NMR, DLS, rheology, and thermal-gravimetric analysis. Tested combinations provided polymers with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) between 30 and 45 degrees C. Terpolymer elastic/shear modulus varied between 0.3 and 19.1 kPa at 37 degrees C. Cellular characterization indicated low cell cytotoxicity on NIH-3T3. Experiments with the ovarian cancer model SKOV-3 and Jurkat T cells showed the terpolymers' capacity for cell encapsulation without interfering with staining or imaging protocols. In addition, cell growth and high levels of pluripotency demonstrated the capability of terpolymer to culture iPSCs. Characterization results confirmed a promising use of terpolymers as a tunable scaffold for cell culture applications.

Automated summary

This study focuses on the design, characterization, and evaluation of thermo-responsive synthetic terpolymers for cell manufacturing and in vitro culture applications. The terpolymers show promising potential as a scaffold for cell culture, with low cytotoxicity and the ability to encapsulate various cell types without interfering with staining or imaging protocols.