Modulation of Dental Pulp Stem Cell Odontogenesis in a Tunable PEG-Fibrinogen Hydrogel System

Abstract EN

Injectable hydrogels have the great potential for clinical translation of dental pulp regeneration.

A recently developed PEG-fibrinogen (PF) hydrogel, which comprises a bioactive fibrinogen backbone conjugated to polyethylene glycol (PEG) side chains, can be cross-linked after injection by photopolymerization.

The objective of this study was to investigate the use of this hydrogel, which allows tuning of its mechanical properties, as a scaffold for dental pulp tissue engineering.

The cross-linking degree of PF hydrogels could be controlled by varying the amounts of PEG-diacrylate (PEG-DA) cross-linker.

PF hydrogels are generally cytocompatible with the encapsulated dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), yielding >85% cell viability in all hydrogels.

It was found that the cell morphology of encapsulated DPSCs, odontogenic gene expression, and mineralization were strongly modulated by the hydrogel cross-linking degree and matrix stiffness.

Notably, DPSCs cultured within the highest cross-linked hydrogel remained mostly rounded in aggregates and demonstrated the greatest enhancement in odontogenic gene expression.

Consistently, the highest degree of mineralization was observed in the highest cross-linked hydrogel.

Collectively, our results indicate that PF hydrogels can be used as a scaffold for DPSCs and offers the possibility of influencing DPSCs in ways that may be beneficial for applications in regenerative endodontics.