Dual-Crosslinked Alginate-Based Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Cultured Meat

Overview

Who: Irfan Tahir, Rachael Floreani

Published: September 13, 2022

Where: Foods

Key Takeaway: Alginate-based scaffold systems can be tuned to ideal parameters for cultured meat production.

Research Topics: scaffold

Summary

Irfan Tahir & Rachael Floreani examine the feasibility of alginate-based hydrogels as cultured meat scaffolds. They first synthesize alginate and methacrylated alginate scaffolds via ionic, visible-light, and dual crosslinking. These scaffolds are then assessed on their material properties and ability to support mouse myoblast cell growth. Tahir & Floreani find dual crosslinking can significantly increase the compressive modulus of the scaffold, yet does not impair the overall porous structure or other physical properties of the scaffold. They argue this demonstrates this scaffold system may be tuned to individual cell types and needs. They also find that mouse myoblast cells exhibit highest cell density on lower compressive modulus gels, particularly when the compressive modulus is near the physiological range for muscle tissue. Overall, they conclude this study shows proof-of-concept use of customized alginate scaffolds for cultured meat production.

Written by Morgan Ziegelski

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Cite This Publication

Tahir, I., & Floreani, R. (2022). Dual-Crosslinked Alginate-Based Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Cultured Meat. Foods, 11(18). https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11182829

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