Controlled Construction of Stable Network Structure Composed of Honeycomb-Shaped Microhydrogels
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- Masayuki Hayakawa
- RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Kobe, Hyogo 650-0047, Japan
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- Satoshi Umeyama
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8502, Japan
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- Ken H. Nagai
- School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan
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- Hiroaki Onoe
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan
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- Masahiro Takinoue
- Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8502, Japan
説明
<jats:p>Recently, the construction of models for multicellular systems such as tissues has been attracting great interest. These model systems are expected to reproduce a cell communication network and provide insight into complicated functions in living systems./Such network structures have mainly been modelled using a droplet and a vesicle. However, in the droplet and vesicle network, there are difficulties attributed to structural instabilities due to external stimuli and perturbations. Thus, the fabrication of a network composed of a stable component such as hydrogel is desired. In this article, the construction of a stable network composed of honeycomb-shaped microhydrogels is described. We produced the microhydrogel network using a centrifugal microfluidic technique and a photosensitive polymer. In the network, densely packed honeycomb-shaped microhydrogels were observed. Additionally, we successfully controlled the degree of packing of microhydrogels in the network by changing the centrifugal force. We believe that our stable network will contribute to the study of cell communication in multicellular systems.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Life
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Life 8 (4), 38-, 2018-09-20
MDPI AG