A thixotropic molecular hydrogel selectively enhances Flk1 expression in differentiated murine embryonic stem cells

Abstract

Hydrogels are considered as promising materials for maintenance and directed differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells. We designed and synthesized a molecular gelator, which was a collagen mimic related to sequence. The hydrogel was found to be thixotropic and it was characterized by different techniques in detail, including rheometery, TEM, CD, FT-IR, and fluorescence spectrometery. More importantly, we demonstrated that our molecular hydrogel supported the differentiation of murine ES cells, and could selectively enhance Flk1 expression in differentiated mES cells. Flk1-positive cells derived from ES cells had been demonstrated as vascular progenitors that support the formation of vascular system. Thus, our hydrogel had great potentials for the preparation of a pure population of Flk1-positive cells, which could be used for the study of vascular formation. Our study is the first example of using molecular hydrogels for mES cell differentiation, which will promote future application of both molecular hydrogels and stem cells in regenerative medicine.