Cell migration in three-dimensional environment is extremely important for tissue regeneration and other biological processes. In this work, a model system was developed to study how endothelial cells (ECs) migrate into photo-responsive hydrogels under the presence of pro-inflammatory macrophages. The hydrogel was synthesized from hyaluronic acid grafted with coumarin and methacrylate moieties by both carbon-carbon covalent linking and coumarin dimerization under UV irradiation at 365 nm. The structure of the hydrogel was conveniently modulated by UV irradiation at 254 nm to decompose the coumarin dimers, leading to the significant decrease of modulus and increase of swelling ratio and mesh size. Under the presence of M1 macrophages, ECs were induced to migrate into the hydrogels with a different degree. A significant larger net displacement of ECs was found in the softer hydrogel obtained by irradiation with UV at 254 nm than in the stiffer original one at day 7.

中文翻译：

---

在促炎性巨噬细胞的存在下，内皮细胞迁移至具有可调模量的光敏水凝胶。

三维环境中的细胞迁移对于组织再生和其他生物过程极为重要。在这项工作中，开发了一个模型系统来研究在促炎性巨噬细胞的存在下内皮细胞（EC）如何迁移到光响应水凝胶中。在365 nm紫外线照射下，通过碳-碳共价键连接和香豆素二聚化，由接枝有香豆素和甲基丙烯酸酯部分的透明质酸合成水凝胶。水凝胶的结构可方便地通过254 nm的紫外线照射进行调节，以分解香豆素二聚体，从而导致模量显着降低，溶胀率和筛孔尺寸增加。在M1巨噬细胞的存在下，诱导ECs以不同程度迁移到水凝胶中。