A Facile Strategy for the Fabrication of Cell‐Laden Porous Alginate Hydrogels based on Two‐Phase Aqueous Emulsions

Porous alginate (Alg) hydrogels possess many advantages as cell carriers. However, current pore generation methods require either complex or harsh fabrication processes, toxic components, extra purification steps, limiting the feasibility and affecting cellular survival function. In this study, a simple cell-friendly approach to generate highly porous cell-laden Alg based on two-phase aqueous emulsions is reported. The pre-gel solutions, which contain two immiscible phases of caseinate (Cas), are cross-linked by calcium ions. structure hydrogel construct formed subsequently removing Cas phase from ion-cross-linked hydrogel. Those heterogeneous pores ≈100 µm interconnected paths. Human white adipose progenitors (WAPs) encapsulated in these self-organize into spheroids show enhanced viability, proliferation, adipogenic differentiation, compared non-porous constructs. As proof concept, platform employed prepare core-shell spheres for coculture WAPs colon cancer cells, with WAP clusters distributed around aggregates, investigate crosstalk. This efficacious believed provide robust versatile engineering porous-structured applications carriers disease modeling.