Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture

Utagawa, Yoshinobu; Ino, Kosuke; Kumagai, Tatsuki; Hiramoto, Kaoru; Takinoue, Masahiro; Nashimoto, Yuji; Shiku, Hitoshi

doi:10.3390/mi13030420

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture

by

Yoshinobu Utagawa

¹,

Kosuke Ino

^2,*

,

Tatsuki Kumagai

¹,

Kaoru Hiramoto

¹

,

Masahiro Takinoue

³

,

Yuji Nashimoto

^2,4

and

Hitoshi Shiku

^2,*

¹

Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

²

Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

³

Department of Computer Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8502, Japan

⁴

Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Micromachines 2022, 13(3), 420; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030420

Submission received: 14 February 2022 / Revised: 1 March 2022 / Accepted: 2 March 2022 / Published: 8 March 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Micromachines in Japan)

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Abstract

Three-dimensional organs and tissues can be constructed using hydrogels as support matrices for cells. For the assembly of these gels, chemical and physical reactions that induce gluing should be induced locally in target areas without causing cell damage. Herein, we present a novel electrochemical strategy for gluing hydrogel fibers. In this strategy, a microelectrode electrochemically generated HClO or Ca²⁺, and these chemicals were used to crosslink chitosan–alginate fibers fabricated using interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation. Further, human umbilical vein endothelial cells were incorporated into the fibers, and two such fibers were glued together to construct “+”-shaped hydrogels. After gluing, the hydrogels were embedded in Matrigel and cultured for several days. The cells spread and proliferated along the fibers, indicating that the electrochemical glue was not toxic toward the cells. This is the first report on the use of electrochemical glue for the assembly of hydrogel pieces containing cells. Based on our results, the electrochemical gluing method has promising applications in tissue engineering and the development of organs on a chip.

Keywords: electrochemical glue; chitosan hydrogel; alginate hydrogel; interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation fiber

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MDPI and ACS Style

Utagawa, Y.; Ino, K.; Kumagai, T.; Hiramoto, K.; Takinoue, M.; Nashimoto, Y.; Shiku, H. Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture. Micromachines 2022, 13, 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030420

AMA Style

Utagawa Y, Ino K, Kumagai T, Hiramoto K, Takinoue M, Nashimoto Y, Shiku H. Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture. Micromachines. 2022; 13(3):420. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030420

Chicago/Turabian Style

Utagawa, Yoshinobu, Kosuke Ino, Tatsuki Kumagai, Kaoru Hiramoto, Masahiro Takinoue, Yuji Nashimoto, and Hitoshi Shiku. 2022. "Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture" Micromachines 13, no. 3: 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030420

APA Style

Utagawa, Y., Ino, K., Kumagai, T., Hiramoto, K., Takinoue, M., Nashimoto, Y., & Shiku, H. (2022). Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture. Micromachines, 13(3), 420. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13030420

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Electrochemical Glue for Binding Chitosan–Alginate Hydrogel Fibers for Cell Culture

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