A Novel Hydrogel Sponge for Three-Dimensional Cell Culture.

Background/objectives: Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture technologies allow us to overcome the constraints of two-dimensional methods in different fields like biochemistry and cell biology and in pharmaceutical in vitro tests. In this study, a novel 3D hydrogel sponge scaffold, composed of a crosslinked polyacrylic acid forming a porous matrix, has been developed and characterized.

Methods: The scaffold was obtained via an innovative procedure involving thermal treatment followed by a salt-leaching step on a matrix-containing polymer along with a gas-forming agent. Based on experimental design for mixtures, a series of formulations were prepared to study the effect of the three components (polyacrylic acid, NaHCO₃ and NaCl) on the scaffold mechanical properties, density, swelling behavior and morphological changes. Physical appearance, surface morphology, porosity, molecular diffusion, transparency, biocompatibility and cytocompatibility were also evaluated.

Results: The hydrogel scaffolds obtained show high porosity and good optical transparency and mechanical resistance. The scaffolds were successfully employed to culture several cell lines for more than 20 days.

Conclusions: The developed scaffolds could be an important tool, as such or with a specific coating, to obtain a more predictive cellular response to evaluate drugs in preclinical studies or for testing chemical compounds, biocides and cosmetics, thus reducing animal testing.