Thermosensitive hydrogels for the encapsulation of primary and human derived neuronal cells

Thermosensitive chitosan-based hydrogel was developed to encapsulate neuronal cells and to support neuronal network development. In particular, the goal of this study was to demonstrate the versatility of this hydrogel to be used as an artificial matrix for 3D neuronal networks in vitro studies and as an injectable-hydrogel for the in-vivo applications or innovative ink for 3D bioprinter. To this aim, chitosan thermogels were fabricated and characterized by different techniques. The scaffold was used to encapsulate primary rat neurons and human-induced neurons cultures to carry out morphological characterization by immunofluorescence techniques.