Strategies to improve neurite outgrowth from primary neurons ingelatin methacrylate hydrogels polymerized with visible lightexposure inside a microscale 3D model
- 1The University of British Columbia
Abstract
Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels offer many advantageous properties such as excellent biocompatibility, tunable stiffness, and rapid fabrication, making them attractive materials for neural systems-on-a-chip devices used to study axonal outgrowth in three-dimensional (3D) environments. In this study, we evaluate properties of GelMA hydrogels crosslinked with visible blue light and application of these hydrogels for encapsulation of primary dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants inside a custom microscale device. We selected low GelMA polymer concentrations of 3 % and 6 % w/v for hydrogel preparation to create soft materials and demonstrate the effect of degree of functionalization (DoF) on stiffness of GelMA in a blue light-induced crosslinking system. Additionally, a decrease in crosslinking efficiency and stiffness of GelMA was observed upon reconstitution of the polymer in DMEM cell culture media compared to PBS. To evaluate the axonal outgrowth, DRG explants were encapsulated in various GelMA formulations and cultured for 7 days. Following incubation, the explants were fixed and immunochemically labelled with anti-beta-III-tubulin antibody. We further describe an application of custom-developed semi-automated image analysis tool together with linear mixed effects modeling to evaluate axonal outgrowth across different GelMA formulations. Among the formulations tested in our study, 3 % GelMA 95 % DoF hydrogels supported the longest neurite outgrowth suggesting that matrix properties influenced neurite extension.
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BibTeX
@misc{liubchak2026strategies,
title = {{Strategies to improve neurite outgrowth from primary neurons ingelatin methacrylate hydrogels polymerized with visible lightexposure inside a microscale 3D model}},
author = {I. Liubchak and J. Sadden and T. Solomon and Y. Xie and S. C. Ng and T. Bennet and N. Zohreh and P. Van den Doel and A. Pieters and P. R. Juralowicz and A. Hilts and A. Fung and S. Mung and K. Liu and T. M. Caffrey and K. C. Cheung},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.28.755099},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755099v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Strategies to improve neurite outgrowth from primary neurons ingelatin methacrylate hydrogels polymerized with visible lightexposure inside a microscale 3D model
AU - I. Liubchak
AU - J. Sadden
AU - T. Solomon
AU - Y. Xie
AU - S. C. Ng
AU - T. Bennet
AU - N. Zohreh
AU - P. Van den Doel
AU - A. Pieters
AU - P. R. Juralowicz
AU - A. Hilts
AU - A. Fung
AU - S. Mung
AU - K. Liu
AU - T. M. Caffrey
AU - K. C. Cheung
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.28.755099
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.755099v1
AB - Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels offer many advantageous properties such as excellent biocompatibility, tunable stiffness, and rapid fabrication, making them attractive materials for neural systems-on-a-chip devices used to study axonal outgrowth in three-dimensional (3D) environments. In this study, we evaluate properties of GelMA hydrogels crosslinked with visible blue light and application of these hydrogels for encapsulation of primary dorsal root ganglion (DRG) explants inside a custom microscale device. We selected low GelMA polymer concentrations of 3 % and 6 % w/v for hydrogel preparation to create soft materials and demonstrate the effect of degree of functionalization (DoF) on stiffness of GelMA in a blue light-induced crosslinking system. Additionally, a decrease in crosslinking efficiency and stiffness of GelMA was observed upon reconstitution of the polymer in DMEM cell culture media compared to PBS. To evaluate the axonal outgrowth, DRG explants were encapsulated in various GelMA formulations and cultured for 7 days. Following incubation, the explants were fixed and immunochemically labelled with anti-beta-III-tubulin antibody. We further describe an application of custom-developed semi-automated image analysis tool together with linear mixed effects modeling to evaluate axonal outgrowth across different GelMA formulations. Among the formulations tested in our study, 3 % GelMA 95 % DoF hydrogels supported the longest neurite outgrowth suggesting that matrix properties influenced neurite extension.
ER -