170 Chapter 7 Figure 1: Summary of current possibilities and future opportunities with three-dimensional lung ECM-derived hydrogels. Lung ECM-derived Hydrogels for mimicking tissue biomechanical environments The structural environment provided for cells by lung ECM-derived hydrogels is another advantage when aiming to develop in vivo mimicking model systems. Although the adoption of the method for generating lung ECM-derived hydrogels was only recently reported [2, 39], the field is advancing rapidly with innovative approaches exploring how different properties can be measured and modified. Among these properties, mechanical properties and topography are two important characteristics of the hydrogels. When considering mechanical properties of the hydrogels stiffness, Young’s modulus, viscosity or viscoelastic stress relaxation are the usual parameters measured [47]. To date, a number of different strategies for measuring mechanical properties of lung ECM-derived hydrogels have been described, although it is important to highlight the challenge when it comes to comparing different studies performed using different measurement approaches for the mechanical properties [48]. Rheometry is one of the most commonly applied methods for measuring mechanical properties of hydrogels [49]. So far, characterization using rheometry has been applied to measure storage (G’) and loss (G”) moduli of porcine [39] and human lung ECM-derived hydrogels [42]. In addition, viscosity and Young’s modulus
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