REALIZING HIGH-VIABILITY SINGLE CELL PRINTING IN ACRYLATED HYDROGESL BY OVERCOMING OXYGEN TOXICITY

Advancements in the microfabrication of soft materials have enabled the creation of synthetic tissue structures for many tissue engineering applications.A persistent challenge facing the field is maintaining cell viability while mimicking the complex microarchitecture necessary to recapitulate the morphology and function of endogenous tissues.We describe the creation of photopolymerizable hydrogel microenvironments (microgels) that sustain high cell viability at single cell-length patterning scales by mitigating the cytotoxic effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated during photopolymerization.PEGDA and GelMA, representative acrylated hydrogel-forming materials, were stereolithographically patterned using a digital micromirror device to print single cell microgels at progressively decreasing length scales.The effect of feature scale on cell viability was assessed and inert gas added to confirm that ROS limited cell viability.Thiolated compounds were found to preserve viability at any length scale.Together this approach advances the ability to microfabricate tissues that better mimic native constructs on cellular and subcellular length scales without concern of deleterious ROS affecting cell viability.