PLGA-PEG from Akina used in research on tumor-mimicking hydrogels for in-vitro testing applications.

 

In order to develop anticancer medications assays must be developed which enable accurate determination of the efficacy of prototype medicines. Because cancer is a complex 3D structure within the human body these assays need to include the nuances present in the microenvironment. Recently, researchers at University of Queensland (Australia) used PEG-PLGA (Cat# AK026) from PolySciTech Division of Akina, Inc. (www.polyscitech.com) to create nanoparticles and use these as part of testing hydrogel-based mimics of tumors for in-vitro development. This research holds promise to improve cancer drug development processes in the future. Read more: Cameron, Anna P., Bijun Zeng, Yun Liu, Haofei Wang, Farhad Soheilmoghaddam, Justin Cooper-White, and Chun-Xia Zhao. "Biophysical properties of hydrogels for mimicking tumor extracellular matrix." Biomaterials Advances 136 (2022): 212782. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772950822000590

“Highlights: Evaluation of biophysical attributes of Matrigel, collagen gel and agarose gel. Characterization of complex modulus, loss tangent, permeability and pore size of hydrogels. A new and facile method for the characterization of hydrogel microstructures. A microfluidic approach for measuring hydrogel permeability. Abstract: The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an essential component of the tumor microenvironment. It plays a critical role in regulating cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. However, there is lack of systematic and comparative studies on different widely-used ECM mimicking hydrogels and their properties, making the selection of suitable hydrogels for mimicking different in vivo conditions quite random. This study systematically evaluates the biophysical attributes of three widely used natural hydrogels (Matrigel, collagen gel and agarose gel) including complex modulus, loss tangent, diffusive permeability and pore size. A new and facile method was developed combining Critical Point Drying, Scanning Electron Microscopy imaging and a MATLAB image processing program (CSM method) for the characterization of hydrogel microstructures. This CSM method allows accurate measurement of the hydrogel pore size down to nanometer resolution. Furthermore, a microfluidic device was implemented to measure the hydrogel permeability (Pd) as a function of particle size and gel concentration. Among the three gels, collagen gel has the lowest complex modulus, medium pore size, and the highest loss tangent. Agarose gel exhibits the highest complex modulus, the lowest loss tangent and the smallest pore size. Collagen gel and Matrigel produced complex moduli close to that estimated for cancer ECM. The Pd of these hydrogels decreases significantly with the increase of particle size. By assessing different hydrogels' biophysical characteristics, this study provides valuable insights for tailoring their properties for various three-dimensional cancer models.”