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S. Zigon-Branc, M. Markovic, J. Van Hoorick, O.G. Andriotis, E. Zerobin, S. Baudis, P.J. Thurner, P. Dubruel, S. Van Vlierberghe, A. Ovsianikov:
"3D Differentiation of human Adipose-derived stem cells/hTERT in Methacrylate Gelatin Hydrogels with Different Stiffness";
Poster: TERMIS World Congress 2018, Kyoto; 2018-09-04 - 2018-09-07; in: "Abstract Book", (2018), 603.

Methacrylamide-modified gelatin (Gel-MOD) hydrogels represent an attractive source for biofabrication of three-dimensional (3D) tissueengineered constructs, as they have tunable mechanical properties, are compatible with different types of cells and resemble elements found in
natural cell-matrix environments. It has been demonstrated that Gel-MOD properties can be altered depending on the degree of
methacrylation. In our study we investigated how 5%, 7.5% and 10% (m/V) Gel-MOD hydrogels (degree of methacrylation 63%) affect
proliferation and differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells/hTERT (hASC/hTERT) after their encapsulation in microspheroid form and
their 3 or 5-week exposure to osteogenic or chondrogenic differentiation medium, respectively. Employing confocal microscopy we observed
that all experimental conditions supported hASC/hTERT viability during the entire testing period. Morphological evaluation and gene expression
analysis of selected genes SOX9, ACAN and COL2A1 proved that compared to the 3D control (undifferentiated) sample, chondrogenic
differentiation of hASC/hTERT was successfully achieved in all three different formulations of Gel-MOD and was most prominent in 5% gel.
Interestingly, when selected osteogenic genes (RUNX2, BGLAP, ALPL, COL1A1) were analyzed in 3D control or osteogenically differentiated
samples and were compared to the expression obtained from hASC/hTERT after their monolayer expansion (prior encapsulation - day 0), their
expression in 3D increased to a similar extent in both conditions. This could suggest that Gel-MOD alone (without any induction medium) is
able to shift the behavior of of hASC/hTERT towards osteogenic lineage. The acquired preliminary data indicate that Gel-MOD shows very
promising potential in the field of osteo-chondral tissue engineering.

https://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_271657.pdf