Neurite Elongation and Branching on DNA Crosslinked Polyacrylamide Hydrogels

Mechanical cues have been found to play an important role in the cell decision making process, as manifested in survival, adhesion, growth, proliferation, differentiation and functioning. Due to their resemblance to the natural tissues, polyacrylamide hydrogels have been used in the studies of mechanobiology and particularly cell-substrate interactions for various cell types including fibroblasts, hepatocytes and neurons [1]. As the initial investigation, we have successfully cultured rat spinal cord neurons on bis-crosslinked gels with large range of stiffnesses [2].