ABSTRACT
The self-organizing formation of multicellular structures in vitro probably could potentially recapitulate the morphological structure and organization of native tissues. Self-organization of cells usually can be achieved in hydrogel system. In vitro cell culture has always been important in the biomedical field for decades. This chapter fabricates the maleimide-dextran hydrogel with homogenous and clustering distributions of RGD peptides, and employs the 3D dextran hydrogels parametrically designed with homogenous and clustered RGD compositions to explore the flexible and quantitative regulation of the substrate materials influencing the collective cellular behaviors. The RGD-clustered hydrogel was quantitatively assessed via measuring the hydrogel’s cell-adhesion efficacy, observing the evolutionary multicellular morphology and the distribution of F-actins inside cells in 3D.
