3-D Life Hydrogel Selection Guide
The schematic drawing below shows how different 3-D Life hydrogel compositions result in different cell environments.
Several choices can be made to design the ideal hydrogel for your 3D cell culture application:
- Polymers Dextran or PVA:
- Dextran can be degraded by dextranase and releases cells or tissues without any harm to cells (exception: there is no degradation possible when crosslinked with HyLink).
- PVA withstands any enzymatic activity and is a very stable polymer for long-term cultures.
- Crosslinker:
- Determines whether cells can locally degrade the hydrogel and create space to move. In addition, HyLink (HA), which is based on hyaluronic acid, adds additional biomimetic functions.
- PEG-Link: Polyethylene glycol-based crosslinkers.
- CD-Link: PEG-based crosslinkers with a matrix metalloprotease cleavage motif. Facilitate cell-induced local remodeling of hydrogel, cell spreading and cell motility.
- HyLink: Hyaluronic acid-based crosslinkers.
- Peptides:
- Induce intracellular signals and provide a cell adhesive extracellular environment, a prerequisite for most cells to spread and migrate.
Unsure about which 3-D Life hydrogel reagents would be ideal for your project? Please contact us with your questions.
This content has been adapted from Cellendes GmbH, for whom Ilex Life Sciences LLC is an authorized distributor.