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Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a 70-amino acid polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 7.6 kDa acting as an anabolic effector. It is essential for tissue growth and remodeling. Clinically, it is used for the treatment of growth disorders and has been proposed for various other applications including musculoskeletal diseases. Unlike insulin, IGF-I is complexed to at least six high-affinity binding proteins (IGFBPs) exerting homeostatic effects by modulating IGF-I availability to its receptor (IGF-IR) on most cells in the body as well as changing the distribution of the growth factor within the organism.1-3 Short half-lived IGF-I have been the driving forces for the design of localized IGF-I depot systems or protein modification with enhanced pharmacokinetic properties. In this thesis, we endeavor to present a versatile biologic into which galenical properties were engineered through chemical synthesis, e.g., by site-specific coupling of biomaterials or complex composites to IGF-I. For that, we redesigned the therapeutic via genetic codon expansion resulting in an alkyne introduced IGF-I, thereby becoming a substrate for biorthogonal click chemistries yielding a site-specific decoration.
In this approach, an orthogonal pyrrolysine tRNA synthetase (PylRS)/tRNAPyl CUA pair was employed to direct the co-translational incorporation of an unnatural amino acid—¬propargyl-L-lysine (plk)—bearing a clickable alkyne functional handle into IGF-I in response to the amber stop codon (UAG) introduced into the defined position in the gene of interest. We summarized the systematic optimization of upstream and downstream process alike with the ultimate goal to increase the yield of plk modified IGF-I therapeutic, from the construction of gene fusions resulting in (i) Trx-plk-IGF-I fusion variants, (ii) naturally occurring pro-IGF-I protein (IGF-I + Ea peptide) (plk-IGF-I Ea), over the subsequent bacterial cultivation and protein extraction to the final chromatographic purification. The opportunities and hurdles of all of the above strategies were discussed. Evidence was provided that the wild-type IGF-I yields were pure by exploiting the advantages of the pHisTrx expression vector system in concert with a thrombin enzyme with its highly specific proteolytic digestion site and multiple-chromatography steps. The alkyne functionality was successfully introduced into IGF-I by amber codon suppression. The proper folding of plk-IGF-I Ea was assessed by WST-1 proliferation assay and the detection of phosphorylated AKT in MG-63 cell lysate. The purity of plk-IGF-I Ea was monitored with RP-HPLC and SDS-PAGE analysis. This work also showed site-specific coupling an alkyne in plk-IGF-I Ea by copper (I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) with potent activities in vitro. The site-specific immobilization of plk-IGF-I Ea to the model carrier (i.e., agarose beads) resulted in enhanced cell proliferation and adhesion surrounding the IGF-I-presenting particles. Cell proliferation and differentiation were enhanced in the accessibility of IGF-I decorated beads, reflecting the multivalence on cellular performance.
Next, we aimed at effectively showing the disease environment by co-delivery of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and IGF-I, deploying localized matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) upregulation as a surrogate marker driving the response of the drug delivery system. For this purpose, we genetically engineered FGF2 variant containing an (S)-2-amino-6-(((2-azidoethoxy)carbonyl)amino)hexanoic acid incorporated at its N-terminus, followed by an MMPs-cleavable linker (PCL) and FGF2 sequence, thereby allowing site-directed, specific decoration of the resultant azide-PCL-FGF2 with the previously mentioned plk-IGF-I Ea to generate defined protein-protein conjugates with a PCL in between. The click reaction between plk-IGF-I Ea and azide-PCL-FGF2 was systematically optimized to increase the yield of IGF-FGF conjugates, including reaction temperature, incubation duration, the addition of anionic detergent, and different ratios of the participating biopharmaceutics. The challenge here was that CuAAC reaction components or conditions might oxidize free cysteines of azide-PCL-FGF2 and future work needs to present the extent of activity retention after conjugation. Furthermore, our study provides potential options for dual-labeling of IGF-I either by the introduction of unnatural amino acids within two distinct positions of the protein of interest for parallel “double-click” labeling of the resultant plk-IGF-I Ea-plk or by using a combination of enzymatic-catalyzed and CuAAC bioorthogonal coupling strategies for sequentially dual-labeling of plk-IGF-I Ea.
In conclusion, genetic code expansion in combination with click-chemistry provides the fundament for novel IGF-I analogs allowing unprecedented site specificity for decoration. Considerable progress towards IGF-I based therapies with enhanced pharmacological properties was made by demonstrating the feasibility of the expression of plk incorporated IGF-I using E. coli and retained activity of unconjugated and conjugated IGF-I variant. Dual-labeling of IGF-I provides further insights into the functional requirements of IGF-I. Still, further investigation warrants to develop precise IGF-I therapy through unmatched temporal and spatial regulation of the pleiotropic IGF-I.
Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) provides a powerful technique for non-destructive microstructure investigations in a broad field of material classes such as metals, semiconductors, polymers or porous glasses. Even though this method is well established for more than five decades, no proper standardization for the used setup configuration and subsequent data processing exists. Eventually, this could lead to an insufficiency of data reproducibility and avoidable deviations.
Here we present experimentally obtained and simulated data of positron lifetime spectra at various statistics measured on pure tin (4N-Sn) by using a semi-analog/digital setup, where the digital section consists of the DRS4 evaluation board, “Design and performance of the 6 GHz waveform digitizing chip DRS4” [1]. The analog section consists of nuclear instrument modules (NIM), which externally trigger the DRS4 evaluation board to reduce the digitization and, thus, increase the acquisition efficiency. For the experimentally obtained lifetime spectra, 22Na sealed in Kapton foil served as a positron source, whereas 60Co was used for the acquisition of the prompt spectrum, i.e. the quasi instrument response function. Both types of measurements were carried out under the same conditions.
All necessary data and information regarding the data acquisition and data reduction are provided to allow reproducibility by other research groups.
The reaction products of the picolyl radicals at high temperature were characterized by mass‐selective threshold photoelectron spectroscopy in the gas phase. Aminomethylpyridines were pyrolyzed to initially produce picolyl radicals (m /z =92). At higher temperatures further thermal reaction products are generated in the pyrolysis reactor. All compounds were identified by mass‐selected threshold photoelectron spectroscopy and several hitherto unexplored reactive molecules were characterized. The mechanism for several dissociation pathways was outlined in computations. The spectrum of m /z =91, resulting from hydrogen loss of picolyl, shows four isomers, two ethynyl pyrroles with adiabatic ionization energies (IE\(_{ad}\)) of 7.99 eV (2‐ethynyl‐1H ‐pyrrole) and 8.12 eV (3‐ethynyl‐1H ‐pyrrole), and two cyclopentadiene carbonitriles with IE′s of 9.14 eV (cyclopenta‐1,3‐diene‐1‐carbonitrile) and 9.25 eV (cyclopenta‐1,4‐diene‐1‐carbonitrile). A second consecutive hydrogen loss forms the cyanocyclopentadienyl radical with IE′s of 9.07 eV (T\(_0\)) and 9.21 eV (S\(_1\)). This compound dissociates further to acetylene and the cyanopropynyl radical (IE=9.35 eV). Furthermore, the cyclopentadienyl radical, penta‐1,3‐diyne, cyclopentadiene and propargyl were identified in the spectra. Computations indicate that dissociation of picolyl proceeds initially via a resonance‐stabilized seven‐membered ring.
Synthetic bone replacement materials have their application in non-load bearing defects with the function of (re-)construction or substitution of bone. This tissue itself represents a biological composite material based on mineralized collagen fibrils and combines the mechanical strength of the mineral with the ductility of the organic matrix. By mimicking these outstanding properties with polymer-cement-composites, an imitation of bone is feasible. A promising approach for such replacement materials are dual setting systems, which are generated by dissolution-precipitation reaction with cement setting in parallel to polymerization and gelation of the organic phase forming a coherent hydrogel network. Hereby, the high brittleness of the pure inorganic network was shifted to a more ductile and elastic behavior.
The aim of this thesis was focused on the development of different dual setting systems to modify pure calcium phosphate cements’ (CPCs’) mechanical performance by incorporation of a hydrogel matrix.
A dual setting system based on hydroxyapatite (HA) and cross-linked 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) via radical polymerization was advanced by homogenous incorporation of a degradable cross-linker composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as well as poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with reactive terminal methacrylate functionalities (PEG-PLLA-DMA). By integration of this high molecular weight structure in the HEMA-hydrogel network, a significant increase in energy absorption (toughness) under 4-point bending testing was observed. An addition of only 10 wt% hydrogel precursor (referred to the liquid phase) resulted in a duplication of stress over a period of 8 days. Additionally, the calculated elasticity was positively affected and up to six times higher compared to pure HA. With a constantly applied force during compressive strength testing, a deformation and thus strain levels of about 10 % were reached immediately after preparation.
For higher degradability, the system was modified in a second approach regarding organic as well as inorganic phase. The latter component was changed by brushite forming cement that is resorbable in vivo due to solubility processes. This CPC was combined with a hydrogel based on PEG-PLLA-DMA and other dimethacrylated PEGs with different molecular weights and concentrations. Hereby, new reaction conditions were created including a shift to acidic conditions. On this ground, the challenge was to find a new radical initiator system. Suitable candidates were ascorbic acid and hydrogen peroxide. that started the polymerization and successful gelation in this environment. These highly flexible dual set composites showed a very high ductility with an overall low strength compared to HA-based models. After removal of the applied force during compressive strength testing, a complete shape recovery was observed for the samples containing the highest polymeric amount (50 wt%) of PEG-PLLA-DMA.
Regarding phase distribution in the constructs, a homogenously incorporated hydrogel network was demonstrated in a decalcifying study with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Intact, coherent hydrogels remained after dissolution of the inorganic phase via calcium ion complexation.
In a third approach, the synthetic hydrogel matrix of the previously described system was replaced by the natural biopolymer gelatin. Simultaneously to brushite formation, physical as well as chemical cross-linking by the compound genipin was performed in the dual setting materials. Thanks to the incorporation of gelatin, elasticity increased significantly, in which concentrations up to 10.0 w/v% resulted in a certain cohesion of samples after compressive strength testing. They did not dissociate in little pieces but remained intact cuboid specimens though having cracks or fissures. Furthermore, the drug release of two active pharmaceutical ingredients (vancomycin and rifampicin) was investigated over a time frame of 5 weeks. The release exponent was determined according to Korsmeyer-Peppas with n = 0.5 which corresponds to the drug liberation model of Higuchi. A sustained release was observed for the antibiotic vancomycin encapsulated in composites with a gelatin concentration of 10.0 w/v% and a powder-to-liquid ratio of 2.5 g/mL.
With respect to these developments of different dual setting systems, three novel approaches were successfully established by polymerization of monomers and cross-linking of precursors forming an incorporated, homogenous hydrogel matrix in a calcium phosphate network. All studies showed an essential transfer of mechanical performance in direction of flexibility and bendability.
Assay and impurity profiling of the pharmaceuticals are the key routine quality control methods employed worldwide for which High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is the most widely used technique. The ability to carry out these routine laboratory procedures in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) need the methods to be based upon simple instruments manageable with moderate levels of personnel skill and costs involved.
Simple, convenient, and cost effective reverse phase HPLC methods were developed using phosphate buffer and methanol as mobile phase with C18 column as stationary phase for the impurity profiling and assay of beta lactam antibiotics. Isocratic elution and UV detection was employed in these methods. Impurity profiling method was developed for coamoxiclav tablets and ceftriaxone bulk drug. The method for ceftriaxone included a supplementary method to quantify one of its known impurity (Impurity D of ceftriaxone). This method involved use of acetonitrile where as the two main methods were achieved on the targeted method design, described above. With the exception of impurity A of ceftriaxone, the methods developed can successfully quantify impurities to the concentration as low as ≤0.05%, which is in accordance with the current guidelines for the impurity profiling of antibiotics issued by European Medicines Agency.
As ensuring cost reduction was one of the key objectives of carrying out the method development exercise, in situ methods for the preparation of impurities were also identified and some new methods were introduced. The stability of beta lactam antibiotics and the choice of solvent were given due attention during the process of method development revealing information on the presence of new impurities. Deacetyl cefotaxime and 2-mercaptobenzathiazole were identified in this process as new impurities of ceftriaxone currently not listed under known impurities by United States Pharmacopoeia and European Pharmacopoeia. However, deacetyl cefotaxime is a known impurity of cefotaxime whereas the latter molecule is a degradation product of one of the synthesis impurities of ceftriaxone. This substance is reported to be carcinogenic and is resolved using the supplementary method developed for ceftriaxone, hence making its detection and quantification possible. A known inactive impurity of ceftriaxone (Impurity A, E-isomer of ceftriaxone) was` also shown to be produced by exposure to day light, thus warranting the light protection of the ceftriaxone solution, an information that is of critical importance in the clinical settings.
A series of experimentation was carried out on the finished products of beta lactam antibiotics sampled from Pakistan and few other countries, to identify key quality issues in the samples. Though the limited sample size and convenient sampling did not provide results that could yield a decisive figure for the country status for prevalence of substandard and falsified medical products, but the experiments have clearly indicated that the problems in drug quality do exist and beta lactam antibiotics form a class of high-risk medicine with respect to surveillance for poor-quality medicines. Isolation of unknown impurities was also carried out along with the introduction of new and modified methods for preparation of impurities of beta-lactam antibiotics.
In addition, detailed literature survey was carried out for understanding the complex problem of the poor-quality medicine, impact of poor quality antimicrobials on health care system and the magnitude of the problem at the global level. The country status of Pakistan regarding quality of medicines was recorded based upon the available documentary evidence. The current technologies and strategic options available for low- and middle-income countries in aiding fight for combating poor quality medicines was also laid down to design recommendations for Pakistan. A comprehensive review of the information technology tools used for identification and control of substandard and falsified medicines was also conducted.
Biofabrication is an advancing new research field that might, one day, lead to complex products like tissue replacements or tissue analogues for drug testing. Although great progress was made during the last years, there are still major hurdles like new types of materials and advanced processing techniques. The main focus of this thesis was to help overcoming this hurdles by challenging and improving existing fabrication processes like extrusion-based bioprinting but also by developing new techniques. Furthermore, this thesis assisted in designing and processing materials from novel building blocks like recombinant spider silk proteins or inks loaded with charged nanoparticles.
A novel 3D printing technique called Melt Electrospinning Writing (MEW) was used in Chapter 3 to create tubular constructs from thin polymer fibers (roughly 12 μm in diameter) by collecting the fibers onto rotating and translating cylinders. The main focus was put on the influence of the collector diameter and its rotation and translation on the morphology of the constructs generated by this approach. In a first step, the collector was not moving and the pattern generated by these settings was analyzed. It could be shown that the diameter of the stationary collectors had a big impact on the morphology of the constructs. The bigger the diameter of the mandrel (smallest collector diameters 0.5 mm, biggest 4.8 mm) got, the more the shape of the generated footprint converged into a circular one known from flat collectors. In a second set of experiments the mandrels were only rotated. Increasing the rotational velocity from 4.2 to 42.0 rpm transformed the morphology of the constructs from a figure-of-eight pattern to a sinusoidal and ultimately to a straight fiber morphology. It was possible to prove that the transformation of the pattern was comparable to what was known from increasing the speed using flat collectors and that at a critical speed, the so called critical translation speed, straight fibers would appear that were precisely stacking on top of each other. By combining rotation and translation of the mandrel, it was possible to print tubular constructs with defined winding angles. Using collections speeds close to the critical translation speed enabled higher control of fiber positioning and it was possible to generate precisely stacked constructs with winding angles between 5 and 60°.
In Chapter 4 a different approach was followed. It was based on extrusion-based bioprinting in combination with a hydrogel ink system. The ink was loaded with nanoparticles and the nanoparticle release was analyzed. In other words, two systems, a printable polyglycidol/hyaluronic acid ink and mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), were combined to analyze charge driven release mechanism that could be fine-tuned using bioprinting. Thorough rheological evaluations proved that the charged nanoparticles, both negatively charged MSN-COOH and positively charged MSN-NH2, did not alter the shear thinning properties of the ink that revealed a negative base charge due to hyaluronic acid as one of its main components. Furthermore, it could be shown that the particles did also not have a negative effect on the recovery properties of the material after exposure to high shear. During printing, the observations made via rheological testing were supported by the fact that all materials could be printed at the same settings of the bioprinter. Using theses inks, it was possible to make constructs as big as 12x12x3 mm3 composed of 16 layers. The fiber diameters produced were about 627±31 μm and two-component constructs could be realized utilizing the two hydrogel print heads of the printer to fabricate one hybrid construct. The particle distribution within those constructs was homogeneous, both from a microscopic and a macroscopic point of view. Particle release from printed constructs was tracked over 6 weeks and revealed that the print geometry had an influence on the particle release. Printed in a geometry with direct contact between the strands containing different MSN, the positively charged particles quickly migrated into the strand previously containing only negatively charged MSN-COOH. The MSN-COOH seemed to be rather released into the surrounding liquid and also after 6 weeks no MSN-COOH signal could be detected in the strand previously only containing MSN-NH2. In case of a geometry without direct contact between the strands, the migration of the positively charged nanoparticles into the MSN-COOH containing strand was strongly delayed. This proved that the architecture of the printed construct can be used to fine-tune the particle release from nanoparticle containing printable hydrogel ink systems.
Chapter 5 discusses an approach using hydrogel inks based on recombinant spider silk proteins processed via extrusion-based bioprinting. The ink could be applied for printing at protein concentrations of 3 % w/v without the addition of thickeners or any post process crosslinking. Both, the recombinant protein eADF4(C16) and a modification introducing a RGD-sequence to the protein (eADF4(C16)-RGD), could be printed revealing a very good print fidelity. The RGD modification had positive effect on the adhesion of cells seeded onto printed constructs. Furthermore, human fibroblasts encapsulated in the ink at concentrations of 1.2 million cells per mL did not alter the print fidelity and did not interfere with the crosslinking mechanism of the ink. This enabled printing cell laden constructs with a cell survival rate of 70.1±7.6 %. Although the cell survival rate needs to be improved in further trials, the approach shown is one of the first leading towards the shift of the window of biofabrication because it is based on a new material that does not need potentially harmful post-process crosslinking and allows the direct encapsulation of cells staying viable throughout the print process.
Functionalization of cells, extracellular matrix components and proteins for therapeutic application
(2019)
Glycosylation is a biochemical process leading to the formation of glycoconjugates by linking glycans (carbohydrates) to proteins, lipids and various small molecules. The glycans are formed by one or more monosaccharides that are covalently attached, thus offering a broad variety depending on their composition, site of glycan linkage, length and ramification. This special nature provides an exceptional and fine tunable possibility in fields of information transfer, recognition, stability and pharmacokinetic. Due to their intra- and extracellular omnipresence, glycans fulfill an essential role in the regulation of different endogenous processes (e.g. hormone action, immune surveillance, inflammatory response) and act as a key element for maintenance of homeostasis. The strategy of metabolic glycoengineering enables the integration of structural similar but chemically modified monosaccharide building blocks into the natural given glycosylation pathways, thereby anchoring them in the carbohydrate architecture of de novo synthesized glycoconjugates. The available unnatural sugar molecules which are similar to endogenous sugar molecules show minimal perturbation in cell function and - based on their multitude functional groups - offer the potential of side directed coupling with a target substance/structure as well as the development of new biological properties. The chemical-enzymatic strategy of glycoengineering provides a valuable complement to genetic approaches.
This thesis primarily focuses on potential fields of application for glycoengineering and its further use in clinic and research. The last section of this work outlines a genetic approach, using special Escherichia coli systems, to integrate chemically tunable amino acids into the biosynthetic pathway of proteins, enabling specific and site-directed coupling with target substances. With the genetic information of the methanogen archaea, Methanosarcina barkeri, the E. coli. system is able to insert a further amino acid, the pyrrolysine, at the ribosomal site during translation of the protein. The natural stop-codon UAG (amber codon) is used for this newly obtained proteinogenic amino acid.
Chapter I describes two systems for the integration of chemically tunable monosaccharides and presents methods for characterizing these systems. Moreover, it gives a general overview of the structure as well as intended use of glycans and illustrates different glycosylation pathways. Furthermore, the strategy of metabolic glycoengineering is demonstrated. In this context, the structure of basic building blocks and the epimerization of monosaccharides during their metabolic fate are discussed.
Chapter II translates the concept of metabolic glycoengineering to the extracellular network produced by fibroblasts. The incorporation of chemically modified sugar components in the matrix provides an innovative, elegant and biocompatible method for site-directed coupling of target substances. Resident cells, which are involved in the de novo synthesis of matrices, as well as isolated matrices were characterized and compared to unmodified resident cells and matrices. The natural capacity of the matrix can be extended by metabolic glycoengineering and enables the selective immobilization of a variety of therapeutic substances by combining enzymatic and bioorthogonal reaction strategies. This approach expands the natural ability of extracellular matrix (ECM), like the storage of specific growth factors and the recruitment of surface receptors along with synergistic effects of bound substances. By the selection of the cell type, the production of a wide range of different matrices is possible.
Chapter III focuses on the target-oriented modification of cell surface membranes of living fibroblast and human embryonic kidney cells. Chemically modified monosaccharides are inserted by means of metabolic glycoengineering and are then presented on the cell surface. These monosaccharides can later be covalently coupled, by “strain promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition“ (SPAAC) and/or “copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition“ (CuAAC), to the target substance. Due to the toxicity of the copper catalysator in the CuAAC, cytotoxicity analyses were conducted to determine the in vivo tolerable range for the use of CuAAC on living cell systems. Finally, the efficacy of both bioorthogonal reactions was compared.
Chapter IV outlines two versatile carrier – spacer – payload delivery systems based on an enzymatic cleavable linker, triggered by disease associated protease. In the selection of carrier systems (i) polyethylene glycol (PEG), a well-studied, Food and Drug Administration approved substance and very common tool to increase the pharmacokinetic properties of therapeutic agents, was chosen as a carrier for non-targeting systems and (ii) Revacept, a human glycoprotein VI antibody, was chosen as a carrier for targeting systems. The protease sensitive cleavable linker was genetically inserted into the N-terminal region of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) without jeopardizing protein activity. By exchanging the protease sensitive sequence or the therapeutic payload, both systems represent a promising and adaptable approach for establishing therapeutic systems with bioresponsive release, tailored to pre-existing conditions.
In summary, by site-specific functionalization of various delivery platforms, this thesis establishes an essential cornerstone for promising strategies advancing clinical application. The outlined platforms ensure high flexibility due to exchanging single or multiple elements of the system, individually tailoring them to the respective disease or target site.
Sacha inchi oil is a premier raw material with highly nutritional and functional features for the foodstuff, pharmaceutical, beauty, and personal care industries. One of the most important facts about this oil is the huge chemical content of unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. However, the current available information on the characterization of the triglyceride composition and the advance physicochemical parameters relevant to emulsion development is limited. Therefore, this research focused on providing a detailed description of the lipid composition using high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry and thorough physicochemical characterization to find the value of the required hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB). For this, a study in the interfacial tension was evaluated, followed by the assessment of different parameters such as creaming index, droplet size, viscosity, zeta potential, pH, and electrical conductivity for a series emulsified at thermal stress condition. The results show that fatty acids are arranged into glycerolipids and the required HLB to achieve the maximum physical stability is around 8.
Background: Culturing of cells is typically performed on standard tissue culture plates generating growth conditions, which in general do not reflect the native three-dimensional cellular environment. Recent investigations provide insights in parameters, which strongly affect the general cellular behavior triggering essential processes such as cell differentiation. The physical properties of the used material, such as stiffness, roughness, or topology, as well as the chemical composition of the cell-surface interface are shown to play a key role in the initiation of particular cellular responses. Methods: We extended our previous research, which identified thin films of metallo-supramolecular coordination polyelectrolytes (MEPEs) as substrate to trigger the differentiation of muscular precursor cells. Results: Here, we show that the same MEPEs similarly stimulate the osteogenic differentiation of pre-osteoblasts. Remarkably, MEPE modified surfaces also trigger the differentiation of primary bone derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) towards the osteogenic lineage. Conclusion: This result leads to the conclusion that these surfaces individually support the specification of cell differentiation toward lineages that correspond to the natural commitment of the particular cell types. We, therefore, propose that Fe-MEPEs may be used as scaffold for the treatment of defects at least in muscular or bone tissue.
Aim of this thesis was the development of functionalizable hydrogel coatings for melt electrowritten PCL scaffolds and of bioprintable hydrogels for biofabrication.
Hydrogel coatings of melt electrowritten scaffolds enabled to control the surface hydrophilicity, thereby allowing cell-material interaction studies of biofunctionalized scaffolds in minimal protein adhesive environments. For this purpose, a hydrophilic star- shaped crosslinkable polymer was used and the coating conditions were optimized. Moreover, newly developed photosensitive scaffolds facilitated a time and pH independent biofunctionalization.
Bioprintable hydrogels for biofabrication were based on the allyl-functionalization of gelatin (GelAGE) and modified hyaluronic acid-products, to enable hydrogel crosslinking by means of the thiol-ene click chemistry. Optimization of GelAGE hydrogel properties was achieved through an in-depth analysis of the synthesis parameters, varying Ene:SH ratios, different crosslinking molecules and photoinitiators. Homogeneity of thiol-ene crosslinked networks was compared to free radical polymerized hydrogels and the applicability of GelAGE as bioink for extrusion-based bioprinting was investigated. Purely hyaluronic acid-based bioinks were hypothesized to maintain mechanical- and rheological properties, cell viabilities and the processability, upon further decreasing the overall hydrogel polymer and thiol content.
Hydrogel coatings: Highly structured PCL scaffolds were fabricated with MEW and subjected to coatings with six-armed star-shaped crosslinkable polymers (sP(EO-stat-PO)). Crosslinking results from the aqueous induced hydrolysis of reactive isocyanate groups (NCO) of sP(EO-stat-PO) and increased the surface hydrophilicity and provided a platform for biofunctionalizations in minimal protein adhesive environments. Not only the coating procedure was optimized with respect to sP(EO-stat-PO) concentrations and coating durations, instead scaffold pre-treatments were developed, which were fundamental to enhance the final hydrophilicity to completely avoid unspecific protein adsorption on sP(EO-stat-PO) coated scaffolds. The sP(EO-stat-PO) layer thickness of around 100 nm generally allows in vitro studies not only in dependence on the scaffold biofunctionalization but also on the scaffold architecture. The hydrogel coating extent was assessed via an indirect quantification of the NCO-hydrolysis products. Knowledge of NCO-hydrolysis kinetics enabled to achieve a balance of sufficiently coated scaffolds while maintaining the presence of NCO-groups that were exploited for subsequent biofunctionalizations. However, this time and pH dependent biofunctionalization was restricted to small biomolecules. In order to overcome this limitation and to couple high molecular weight biomolecules another reaction route was developed. This route was based on the photolysis of diazirine moieties and enabled a time and pH independent scaffold biofunctionalization with streptavidin and collagen type I. The fibril formation ability of collagen was used to obtain different collagen conformations on the scaffolds and a preliminary in vitro study demonstrated the applicability to investigate cell-material interactions.
The herein developed scaffolds could be applied to gain deeper insights into the fundamentals of cellular sensing. Especially the complexity by which cells sense e.g. collagen remain to be further elucidated. Therefore, different hierarchies of collagen-like conformations could be coupled to the scaffolds, e.g. gelatin or collagen-derived peptide sequences, and the activation of DDR receptors in dependence on the complexity of the coupled substances could be determined. Due to the strong streptavidin-biotin bond, streptavidin functionalized scaffolds could be applied as a versatile platform to allow immobilization of any biotinylated molecules.
Gelatin-based bioinks: First the GelAGE products were synthesized with respect to molecular weight distributions and amino acid composition integrity. A detailed study was conducted with varying molar ratios of reactants and synthesis durations and implied that gelatin degradation was most dominant for high alkaline synthesis conditions with long reaction times. Gelatin possesses multiple functionalizable groups and the predominant functionalization of amine groups was confirmed via different model substances and analyses. Polymer network homogeneity was proven for the GelAGE system compared to free radical polymerized hydrogels with GelMA. A detailed analysis of hydrogel compositions with varying functional group ratios and UV- or Vis-light photoinitiators was executed. The UV-initiator concentration is restricted due to cytotoxicity and potential cellular DNA damages upon UV-irradiation, whereas the more cytocompatible Vis- initiator system enabled mechanical stiffness tuning over a wide range by controlling the photoinitiator concentration at constant Ene:SH ratios and polymer weight percentages. Versatility of the GelAGE bioink for different AM techniques was proved by exploiting the thermo-gelling behavior of differently degraded GelAGE products for stereolithography and extrusion-based printing. Moreover, the viability of cell-laden GelAGE constructs was demonstrated for extrusion-based bioprinting. By applying different multifunctional thiol-macromolecular crosslinkers the mechanical and rheological properties improved concurrently to the processability. Importantly, lower thiol-crosslinker concentrations were required to yield superior mechanical strengths and physico-chemical properties of the hydrogels as compared to the small bis-thiol-crosslinker. Extrusion-based bioprinting with distinct encapsulated cells underlined the need for individual optimization of cell-laden hydrogel formulations.
Not only the viability of encapsulated cells in extrusion-based bioprinted constructs should be assessed, instead other parameters such as cell morphology or production of collagen or glycosaminoglycans should be considered as these represent some of the crucial prerequisites for cartilage Tissue Engineering applications. Moreover, these studies should be expanded to the stereolithographic approach and ultimately the versatility and cytocompatibility of formulations with macromolecular crosslinkers would be of interest. Macromolecular crosslinkers allowed reducing polymer weight percentages and amounts of thiol groups and are thus expected to contribute to increased cytocompatibility, especially in combination with the more cytocompatible Vis-initiator system, which remains to be elucidated.
Hyaluronic acid-based bioinks: Different molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HA) products were synthesized to bear ene- (HAPA) or thiol-functionalities (LHASH) to enable pure HA thiol-ene crosslinked hydrogels. Depending on the molecular weight of modified HA products, polymer weight percentages and Ene:SH ratios, a wide range of mechanical stiffness was covered. However, the manageability of high molecular weight HA (HHAPA) product solutions (HHAPA + LHASH) was restricted to 5.0 wt.-% as a consequence of the high viscosity. Based on the same HA thiol component (LHASH), hybrid hydrogels of HA with GelAGE were compared to pure HA hydrogels. Although the overall polymer weight percentage of HHAPA + LHASH hydrogels was significantly lowered compared to hybrid hydrogels (GelAGE + LHASH), similar mechanical and physico-chemical properties of pure HA hydrogels were determined with maintained Ene:SH ratios. Low viscous low molecular weight HA precursor solutions (LHAPA + LHASH) prevented the applicability for extrusion-based bioprinting, whereas the non-thermoresponsive HHAPA + LHASH system could be bioprinted with only one-fourth of the polymer content of hybrid formulations. The high viscous behavior of HHAPA + LHASH solutions, lower polymer weight percentages, decreased printing pressures and consequently declined shear stress during printing, were hypothesized to contribute to high cell viabilities in extrusion-based bioprinted constructs compared to the hybrid bioink.
The low molecular weight HA precursor formulation (LHAPA + LHASH) was not applicable for extrusion-based printing, but this system has potential for other AM techniques such as stereolithography. Similar to the GelAGE system a more detailed study on the functions of encapsulated cells would be useful to further develop this system. Moreover, the initiation with the Vis-initiator should be conducted.