Enhancement of Podocyte Attachment on Polyacrylamide Hydrogels with Gelatin-Based Polymers

Recent trends in the development ofin vitro3D kidney models

The kidneys are vital for maintaining bodily homeostasis and are susceptible to various diseases that disrupt their function. Traditionally, research on kidney diseases has relied on animal models and simplistic two-dimensional cell cultures, which do not fully replicate human tissue pathology. To address this, recent advances focus on developing advanced 3D biomimeticin vitromodels using human-derived cells. These models mimic healthy and diseased kidney tissues with specificity, replicating key elements like glomerular and tubular structures through tissue engineering. By closely mimicking human physiology, they provide a promising platform for studying renal disorders, drug-induced nephrotoxicity, and evaluating new therapies. However, the challenges include optimizing scalability, reproducibility, and long-term stability to enhance reliability in research and clinical applications. This review highlights the transformative potential of 3D biomimeticin vitrokidney models in advancing biomedical research and clinical applications. By focusing on human-specific cell cultures and tissue engineering techniques, these models aim to overcome the limitations of conventional animal models and simplistic 2D cell cultures. The review discusses in detail the various types of biomimetic kidney models currently under development, their specific applications, and the innovative approaches used to construct them. It also addresses the challenges and limitations associated with these models for their widespread adoption and reliability in research settings.

Novel high-efficient adsorbent based on modified gelatin/montmorillonite nanocomposite for removal of malachite green dye

Shortage of drinking water has gained potential interest over the last few decades. Discharged industrial effluent, including various toxic pollutants, to water surfaces is one of the most serious environmental issues. The adsorption technique has become a widely studied method for the removal of toxic pollutants, specifically synthetic dyes, from wastewater due to its cost-effectiveness, high selectivity, and ease of operation. In this study, a novel gelatin-crosslinked-poly(acrylamide-co-itaconic acid)/montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclay nanocomposites-based adsorbent has been prepared for removing malachite green (MG) dye from an aqueous solution. Modified gelatin nanocomposites were synthesized using a free-radical polymerization technique in the presence and absence of MMT. Various analytical instrumentation: including FTIR, FESEM, XRD, and TEM techniques were used to elucidate the chemical structure and surface morphology of the prepared samples. Using a batch adsorption experiment, Langmuir isotherm model showed that the prepared modified gelatin nanocomposite had a maximum adsorption capacity of 950.5 mg/g using 350 mg/L of MG dye at pH 9 within 45 min. Furthermore, the regeneration study showed good recyclability for the obtained nanocomposite through four consecutive reusable cycles. Therefore, the fabricated gelatin nanocomposite is an attractive adsorbent for MG dye elimination from aqueous solutions.

Polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin hydrogels regulate cell adhesion and chromatin accessibility

Cell adhesion has a critical influence on various processes such as cancer metastasis and wound healing. Many substrates have been used for studying cell adhesion and its related biological processes, it is still highly desirable to have a simply prepared and low-cost substrate suitable for regulating cell adhesion. In this study, we produced a series of polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin hydrogels with different gelatin concentrations via dry-annealing method. Our data showed that the protein adsorbing capability was enhanced and cell adhesion area and the ratio of non-spherical cells were increased with the increment of gelatin concentration. We also observed that varying cell adhesion conditions induced by polyvinyl alcohol /gelatin hydrogels resulted in expression level changes of genes involved in mechanotransduction from extracellular matrices (ECM) to the nucleus. In particular, we detected a widespread increase in chromatin accessibility under poor cell adhesion condition. This work provides a useful hydrogel system for regulating cell adhesion and opens up new possibilities for the design of biomaterials for cell adhesion study.

Microfluidic Device for the Analysis of Angiogenic Sprouting under Bidirectional Biochemical Gradients

In this paper, we developed a spheroid culture device that can trap a spheroid in the trapping site sandwiched by two extracellular matrix gels located at the upper and lower side of the spheroid. This device can form different biochemical gradients by applying target biochemicals separately in upper and lower channels, allowing us to study the angiogenic sprouting under various biochemical gradients in different directions. In the experiments, we confirmed the trapping of the spheroids and demonstrate the investigation on the direction and extent of angiogenic sprouts under unidirectional or bidirectional biochemical gradients. We believe our device can contribute to understanding the pathophysiological phenomena driven by chemical gradients, such as tissue development and tumor angiogenesis.