Tumors, trauma, and congenital defects require volume restoration of soft tissues. Tissue engineering provides an alternative source for substituting these defects. Cell encapsulation into hydrogels provides a three-dimensional microenvironment. Spheroids of cells provide close packing and increase cell-to-cell contacts resulting in differentiation. Gelatin is a natural polymer with low immunogenicity and preserved amino acid motifs for cell adhesion and proliferation. In the present study, a soft photo-crosslinked gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel with long in vitro lifetime was synthesized. Stem cells (dental pulp derived, DPSC) and endothelial cells (umbilical cord derived, HUVEC) were formed into spheroids to induce prevascular network formation and encapsulated into GelMA (10% weight/volume). Results showed high cell viability, better gel mechanical properties, and longer HUVEC sprouting with spheroids compared to the same combination of cells. Altogether, the photo-crosslinked GelMA hydrogels with DPSC and HUVEC spheroids provided a promising tissue engineering and vascularization strategy in vitro.

肿瘤，外伤和先天性缺损需要软组织的体积恢复。组织工程学提供了替代这些缺陷的替代来源。将细胞包封到水凝胶中可提供三维微环境。细胞的球状体提供紧密的堆积并增加细胞间的接触，从而导致分化。明胶是一种天然聚合物，具有低免疫原性和保留的氨基酸基序，可促进细胞粘附和增殖。在本研究中，具有长的体外光交联的甲基丙烯酸明胶（GelMA）水凝胶生命是合成的。将干细胞（源自牙髓，DPSC）和内皮细胞（源自脐带，HUVEC）形成球状体以诱导血管前网络的形成，并将其封装到GelMA（10％重量/体积）中。结果显示，与相同的细胞组合相比，具有较高的细胞活力，更好的凝胶机械性能和更长的球状HUVEC发芽。总而言之，具有DPSC和HUVEC球状体的光交联的GelMA水凝胶在体外提供了有希望的组织工程和血管化策略。