Cell infiltrative hydrogel fibrous scaffolds for accelerated wound healing

Xin Zhaoa,d,e#, Xiaoming Sunh,# , Lara Yildirimera, #, Qi Langa, Zhi Yuan (William)

Lina, Reila Zhenga, Yuguang Zhangh, Wenguo Cuia,g,*, Nasim Annabia,f,*, Ali

Khademhosseinia,b,c,*

aBiomaterials Innovation Research Center, Division of Biomedical Engineering,

Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School,

Boston, MA 02139, USA

bWyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston,

MA 02115, USA

cDepartment of Physics, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21569, Saudi Arabia

dSchool of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi

710049, China

eBioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center, Xi’an Jiaotong University,

Shaanxi 710049 , China

fDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115,

USA

gDepartment of Orthopedics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University,

Orthopedic Institute, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, China

hDepartment of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital

Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200011, China

# Co-first authors

* Corresponding authors: Ali Khademhosseini (Email: alik@bwh.harvard.edu);

Nasim Annabi (annabi.nasim@gmail.com); Wenguo Cui (Email:

wgcui80@hotmail.com)

Fig. S1. SEM images of electrospun PLGA, gelatin and GelMA scaffolds after water

immersion for 24 h. GelMA-2, 6 and 10 represent GelMA fibers photocrosslinked by

UV light radiation for 2, 6 and 10 min, respectively.

Fig. S2. Degradation of the electrospun PLGA, gelatin and GelMA fibers. Mass loss

of control PLGA scaffolds was minimal compared to all other groups. For GelMA

scaffolds, mass loss was negatively correlated with UV light crosslinking times.

GelMA-2 exhibited the most pronounced percentage mass loss which was statistically

significant compared to the mass loss of all other scaffolds (p < 0.05). GelMA-2, 6

and 10 represent GelMA fibers photocrosslinked by UV light radiation for 2, 6 and 10

min, respectively.

Fig. S3. Representative fluorescence images showing cell attachment and spreading

on different electrospun scaffolds after 1, 4 and 7 days of culture. Cell filaments were

stained by phalloidin (green) and nuclei stained by DAPI (blue) (scale bar = 100 µm).

Fig. S4. Wound healing time profile of different scaffolds. The wound closure was

calculated as the ratio of the area of healed wounds compared to the original area of

wound. Wounds treated with GelMA-10 scaffolds healed completely by day 21,

followed by progressively slower healing rate of wounds treated with gelatin

scaffolds, PLGA and untreated scaffolds.

Fig. S5. Crosslinking of uncrosslinked gelatin (A) and GelMA (B) using

glutaraldehyde and photo-initiator. GelMA has increased chain length of crosslinkers

(see dash line box).

Table S1. Different gene specific primers.

Sense Antisense

Collagen I 5’-TGTGTTGCTGAAAGACTACC-3’ 5’-TAGCACCAGAAATTCCTTCC-3’

Collagen III 5’-GTCCACAGCCTTCTACAC-3’ 5’-TCCGACTCCAGACTTGAC-3’

GAPDH 5’-GTCGGTGTGAACGGATTTG-3’ 5’-TCCCATTCTCAGCCTTGAC-3’