Thermosensitive hydrogels based on Poly(VCL-co-VP) loaded with carbon nanotubes for cell culture: role of the functionalization on the neural cell growth

• The composition can modulate the thermosensitivity of poly(VCL-co-VP)-based hydrogels. • Functionalization of CNTs enables their dispersion in the photocurable formulation. • CNT loading increases the elastic modulus and conductivity of the hydrogel. • CNT-loaded hydrogels are cytocompatible. • CNTs promote the proliferative, non-differentiated, non-migratory phenotype Neuro2a. In this study, thermosensitive hydrogels based on vinyl-lactams, loaded with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs, hereinafter CNTs) in a range of weight percentages up to 0.3 %, have been prepared. To optimize charge dispersion in the polymeric network matrix, CNTs have been functionalized on the one hand to facilitate dispersion in the precursor formulation, and precursor formulations containing different percentages of two types of vinyl-lactams, vinylcaprolactam (VCL) and vinylpyrrolidone (VP), have been evaluated on the other. The incorporation of functionalized CNTs increased the compressive modulus of the hydrogels more than sixfold (from ∼ 0.6 to ∼ 3.7 MPa) and improved electrical conductivity by an order of magnitude (from 8.6·10 −3 to 8.1·10 −2 S·m −1 ), while promoting higher rates of adhesion and proliferation of endothelial and neuronal cells. These improvements highlight the potential of the developed system for biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.