Synthesis and characterization of C2C12-laden gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) from marine and mammalian sources

Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) is widely used for tissue engineering applications as an extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking scaffold due to its cost-effectiveness, ease of synthesis, and high biocompatibility. GelMA is widely synthesized from porcine skin gelatin, which labors under clinical, religious, and economical restrictions. In order to overcome these limitations, GelMA can be produced from fish skin gelatin, which is eco-friendly as well. Here, we present a comparative study of the physicochemical (structural, thermal, water uptake, swelling, rheological, and mechanical) and biological (cell viability, proliferation, and spreading) properties of porcine and fish skin GelMA with low and high methacrylation degrees, before and after crosslinking, to check whether fish skin can replace porcine skin as the source of GelMA. Porcine and fish skin GelMA presented similar structural, thermal, and water uptake properties prior to crosslinking. However, subsequent to crosslinking, fish skin GelMA hydrogels exhibited a higher mass swelling ratio and a lower elastic and compressive Young's moduli than porcine skin GelMA hydrogels of similar methacrylation level. Both types of GelMA hydrogels showed great biocompatibility toward encapsulated mouse myoblast cells (C2C12), however, improved cell spreading was observed in fish skin GelMA hydrogels, and cell proliferation was only induced in low methacrylated GelMA. These results suggest that fish skin GelMA is a promising substitute for porcine skin GelMA for biomedical applications and that low methacrylated fish skin GelMA can be used as a potential scaffold for skeletal muscle tissue engineering.