GelMA (Methacrylated gelatin)…
GelMA is one of the most popular biomaterials employed in tissue engineering by extrusion bioprinting. GelMA is a gelatin derivative in which a major limitation of the otherwise inherently biocompatible and biodegradable gelatin is addressed, i.e. it is insensitive to physiological temperature. Gelatin is a hydrolysate of collagen with significantly lower immunogenicity but it still contains the arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide sequence, required for cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation, and a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) degradation sequence which promotes cell enzymatic degradation.
…with various degrees of methacrylation
GelMA enables diverse applications since the physico-chemical properties of its hydrogels can be tuned by adjusting its degree of methacrylation, tailoring its gelling behavior, solution viscosity, and mechanical strength. The latter is rather important since different natural tissues respond differently to mechanical stresses, and the ideal material intended for the creation of a tissue model would closely match the mechanical properties of the target tissue.
1H NMR spectra
Proton NMR spectra of gelatin and GelMA with two different degrees of methacrylation.
Characteristics
We have developed a reproducible procedure for the methacrylation of gelatin. We are currently establishing the control limits for the gelatin methacrylation SOP.
MatriChem’s GelMA hydrogels are covalently crosslinked by visible light reducing the negative impact on cell survival when compared to the typical UV crosslinking.
Control Charts
MatriChem’s SOP for gelatin methacrylation enables us to maintain the variability of the degree of methacrylation as low as ±5%.
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