ArticleScientific reports2016
Composite alginate gels for tunable cellular microenvironment mechanics.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Evaluation of Commercial Alginate Hydrogels: Effects of Viscosity, Polymer Concentration, and Crosslinking on Structural, Mechanical, and Biological Properties.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Quantifying cell traction forces at the single-fiber scale in 3D: An approach based on deformable photopolymerized fiber arrays.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Reversible Stiffening of Biopolymeric Hybrid Networks by Dynamically Switching Cross-LinksACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Article
- Nature-inspired surface modification strategies for implantable devices.Materials today. Bio · 2025Review
- Hydration Effects Driving Network Remodeling in Hydrogels during Cyclic Loading.ACS macro letters · 2025Article
- Sandwich Culture Platforms to Investigate the Roles of Stiffness Gradients and Cell-Matrix Adhesions in Cancer Cell Migration.Cancers · 2023Article
- Comparative Study of Two Common In Vitro Models for the Pancreatic Islet with MIN6.Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine · 2023Article
- Development of Biocomposite Alginate-Cuttlebone-Gelatin 3D Printing Inks Designed for Scaffolds with Bone Regeneration Potential.Marine drugs · 2022Article
- Interpenetrating polymer network hydrogels as bioactive scaffolds for tissue engineering.Reviews in chemical engineering · 2022Article
- Curcumin and Graphene Oxide Incorporated into Alginate Hydrogels as Versatile Devices for the Local Treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Heterogeneous microenvironmental stiffness regulates pro-metastatic functions of breast cancer cells.Acta biomaterialia · 2021Article
- Collagen-Alginate Composite Hydrogel: Application in Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Sciences.Polymers · 2021Review
- Nanostructured Biomaterials forCurrent opinion in biomedical engineering · 2021Article
- Cardiovascular tissue regeneration system based on multiscale scaffolds comprising double-layered hydrogels and fibers.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Nano-fibre Integrated Microcapsules: A Nano-in-Micro Platform for 3D Cell Culture.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Article
- Cell-Laden Hydrogel as a Clinical-Relevant 3D Model for Analyzing Neuroblastoma Growth, Immunophenotype, and Susceptibility to Therapies.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Article
- Functional and Biomimetic Materials for Engineering of the Three-Dimensional Cell Microenvironment.Chemical reviews · 2017Review
- Dissecting the stem cell niche with organoid models: an engineering-based approach.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The mechanics of the cellular microenvironment can be as critical as biochemistry in directing cell behavior. Many commonly utilized materials derived from extra-cellular-matrix create excellent scaffolds for cell growth, however, evaluating the relative mechanical and biochemical effects independently in 3D environments has been difficult in frequently used biopolymer matrices. Here we present 3D sodium alginate hydrogel microenvironments over a physiological range of stiffness (E = 1.85 to 5.29 kPa), with and without RGD binding sites or collagen fibers. We use confocal microscopy to measure the growth of multi-cellular aggregates (MCAs), of increasing metastatic potential in different elastic moduli of hydrogels, with and without binding factors. We find that the hydrogel stiffness regulates the growth and morphology of these cell clusters; MCAs grow larger and faster in the more rigid environments similar to cancerous breast tissue (E = 4-12 kPa) as compared to healthy tissue (E = 0.4-2 kpa). Adding binding factors from collagen and RGD peptides increases growth rates, and change maximum MCA sizes. These findings demonstrate the utility of these independently tunable mechanical/biochemistry gels, and that mechanical confinement in stiffer microenvironments may increase cell proliferation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.