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Chen J, Luo Y. Disodium Cromoglycate Templates Anisotropic Short-Chain PEG Hydrogels. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:33223-33234. [PMID: 38885610 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c07181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2024]
Abstract
Anisotropic hydrogels have found widespread applications in biomedical engineering, particularly as scaffolds for tissue engineering. However, it remains a challenge to produce them using conventional fabrication methods, without specialized synthesis or equipment, such as 3D printing and unidirectional stretching. In this study, we explore the self-assembly behaviors of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA), using disodium cromoglycate (DSCG), a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal, as a removable template. The affinity between short-chain PEGDA (Mn = 250) and DSCG allows polymerization to take place at the DSCG surface, thereby forming anisotropic hydrogel networks with fibrin-like morphologies. This process requires considerable finesse as the phase behaviors of DSCG depend on a multitude of factors, including the weight percentage of PEGDA and DSCG, the chain length of PEGDA, and the concentration of ionic species. The key to modulating the microstructures of the all-PEG hydrogel networks is through precise control of the DSCG concentration, resulting in anisotropic mechanical properties. Using these anisotropic hydrogel networks, we demonstrate that human dermal fibroblasts are particularly sensitive to the alignment order. We find that cells exhibit a density-dependent activation pattern of a Yes-associated protein, a mechanotransducer, corroborating its role in enabling cells to translate external mechanical and morphological patterns to specific behaviors. The flexibility of modulating microstructure, along with PEG hydrogels' biocompatibility and biodegradability, underscores their potential use for tissue engineering to create functional structures with physiological morphologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Chen
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
| | - Yimin Luo
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
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Koizumi R, Golovaty D, Alqarni A, Li BX, Sternberg PJ, Lavrentovich OD. Topological transformations of a nematic drop. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadf3385. [PMID: 37418526 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf3385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
Morphogenesis of living systems involves topological shape transformations which are highly unusual in the inanimate world. Here, we demonstrate that a droplet of a nematic liquid crystal changes its equilibrium shape from a simply connected tactoid, which is topologically equivalent to a sphere, to a torus, which is not simply connected. The topological shape transformation is caused by the interplay of nematic elastic constants, which facilitates splay and bend of molecular orientations in tactoids but hinders splay in the toroids. The elastic anisotropy mechanism might be helpful in understanding topology transformations in morphogenesis and paves the way to control and transform shapes of droplets of liquid crystals and related soft materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runa Koizumi
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Dmitry Golovaty
- Department of Mathematics, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-4002, USA
| | - Ali Alqarni
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Bing-Xiang Li
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
- College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Microelectronics, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Peter J Sternberg
- Department of Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
| | - Oleg D Lavrentovich
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
- Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
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Koizumi R, Golovaty D, Alqarni A, Walker SW, Nastishin YA, Calderer MC, Lavrentovich OD. Toroidal nuclei of columnar lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals coexisting with an isotropic phase. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:7258-7268. [PMID: 35975722 DOI: 10.1039/d2sm00712f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Nuclei of ordered materials emerging from the isotropic state usually show a shape topologically equivalent to a sphere; the well-known examples are crystals and nematic liquid crystal droplets. In this work, we explore experimentally and theoretically the toroidal in shape nuclei of columnar lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals coexisting with the isotropic phase. The geometry of these toroids depends strongly on concentrations of the disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) and the crowding agent, polyethylene glycol (PEG). High concentrations of DSCG and PEG result in thick toroids with small central holes, while low concentrations yield thin toroids with wide holes. The multitude of the observed shapes is explained by the balance of bending elasticity and anisotropic interfacial tension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Runa Koizumi
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
| | - Dmitry Golovaty
- Department of Mathematics, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325-4002, USA.
| | - Ali Alqarni
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Bisha, Bisha, 67714, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Shawn W Walker
- Department of Mathematics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4918, USA.
| | - Yuriy A Nastishin
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
- Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy, 32 Heroes of Maidan street, Lviv, 79012, Ukraine.
| | - M Carme Calderer
- School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
| | - Oleg D Lavrentovich
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
- Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
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Fraccia TP, Zanchetta G. Liquid–liquid crystalline phase separation in biomolecular solutions. Curr Opin Colloid Interface Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cocis.2021.101500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Baza H, Turiv T, Li BX, Li R, Yavitt BM, Fukuto M, Lavrentovich OD. Shear-induced polydomain structures of nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal disodium cromoglycate. SOFT MATTER 2020; 16:8565-8576. [PMID: 32785364 DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01259a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) represent aqueous dispersions of organic disk-like molecules that form cylindrical aggregates. Despite the growing interest in these materials, their flow behavior is poorly understood. Here, we explore the effect of shear on dynamic structures of the nematic LCLC, formed by 14 wt% water dispersion of disodium cromoglycate (DSCG). We employ in situ polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS) to obtain independent and complementary information on the director structures over a wide range of shear rates. The DSCG nematic shows a shear-thinning behavior with two shear-thinning regions (Region I at [small gamma, Greek, dot above] < 1 s-1 and Region III at [small gamma, Greek, dot above] > 10 s-1) separated by a pseudo-Newtonian Region II (1 s-1 < [small gamma, Greek, dot above] < 10 s-1). The material is of a tumbling type. In Region I, [small gamma, Greek, dot above] < 1 s-1, the director realigns along the vorticity axis. An increase of [small gamma, Greek, dot above] above 1 s-1 triggers nucleation of disclination loops. The disclinations introduce patches of the director that deviates from the vorticity direction and form a polydomain texture. Extension of the domains along the flow and along the vorticity direction decreases with the increase of the shear rate to 10 s-1. Above 10 s-1, the domains begin to elongate along the flow. At [small gamma, Greek, dot above] > 100 s-1, the texture evolves into periodic stripes in which the director is predominantly along the flow with left and right tilts. The period of stripes decreases with an increase of [small gamma, Greek, dot above]. The shear-induced transformations are explained by the balance of the elastic and viscous energies. In particular, nucleation of disclinations is associated with an increase of the elastic energy at the walls separating nonsingular domains with different director tilts. The uncovered shear-induced structural effects would be of importance in the further development of LCLC applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hend Baza
- Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA. and Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Taras Turiv
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA and Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Bing-Xiang Li
- Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA and Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Ruipeng Li
- National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
| | - Benjamin M Yavitt
- National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA and Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Masafumi Fukuto
- National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
| | - Oleg D Lavrentovich
- Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA. and Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA and Materials Science Graduate Program, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
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