Electrodeposition of alginate hydrogel for spatially selective entrapment of biological cells

Abstract

In this paper, an electrodeposition method was applied to construct cell patterning structures by an alginate hydrogel. The liver cells (RLC-18) were trapped selectively within alginate structures on the micro-patterning electrodes, which were fabricated by a photo-lithography process in circular, ring, and triangle structures. The living conditions of RLC-18 cells were confirmed until 3 days. These results indicate that biological cells were entrapped inside arbitrary shape hydrogel structures in living conditions. The fabricated 2D biological structures are important to be applied for 3D assembly of biological cells for tissue engineering applications.