%0 Journal Article %J J Biomech Eng %D 2005 %T Cellular cross-linking of peptide modified hydrogels %A Drury, Jeanie L %A Boontheekul, Tanyarut %A Boontheeku, Tanyarut %A Mooney, David J %K Alginates %K Animals %K Biocompatible Materials %K Cell Culture Techniques %K Cell Line %K Cells, Immobilized %K Compressive Strength %K Cross-Linking Reagents %K Elasticity %K Hydrogels %K Materials Testing %K Mice %K Myoblasts %K Oligopeptides %K Stress, Mechanical %K Tensile Strength %K Tissue Engineering %X Peptide modification of hydrogel-forming materials is being widely explored as a means to regulate the phenotype of cells immobilized within the gels. Alternatively, we hypothesized that the adhesive interactions between cells and peptides coupled to the gel-forming materials would also enhance the overall mechanical properties of the gels. To test this hypothesis, alginate polymers were modified with RGDSP-containing peptides and the resultant polymer was used to encapsulate C2C12 myoblasts. The mechanical properties of these gels were then assessed as a function of both peptide and cell density using compression and tensile tests. Overall, it was found that above a critical peptide and cell density, encapsulated myoblasts were able to provide additional mechanical integrity to hydrogels composed of peptide-modified alginate. This occurred presumably by means of cell-peptide cross-linking of the alginate polymers, in addition to the usual Ca++ cross-linking. These results are potentially applicable to other polymer systems and important for a range of tissue engineering applications. %B J Biomech Eng %V 127 %P 220-8 %8 2005 Apr %G eng %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15971699?dopt=Abstract