Glycosil™

Glycosil™

Glycosil is thiol-modified hyaluronic acid and is a component of the Extracel™ and Extracel-X™ hydrogel kits. Hyaluronic acid is a major constituent of native extracellular matrix (ECM); however, some cells do not attach well to Glycosil-only hydrogels1. For these applications, Glycosil is used in conjunction with Gelin-S™ or ECM proteins such as laminin, collagen, or fibronectin for most 3-D cell culture and tissue-engineering applications2. Glycosil can be purchased separately from the hydrogel kits in individual vials.

Gelation

Reconstituted Glycosil remains liquid at 15 to 37°C. Without crosslinker, Glycosil will form a hydrogel via disulfide bond formation; however, the gelation time is over twenty-four hours. The rate of disulfide bond formation is highly dependent upon the solution pH and the amount of oxygen present. If Extralink™ is used to crosslink the Glycosil, the gelation time is about twenty minutes with no low-temperature or low-pH steps. Diluting Glycosil with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or cell-culture medium can increase its gelation time.

Volume

Glycosil vials come in two sizes:

  • 1 mL Vial
  • 5 mL Vial

Hyaluronic-Acid Source

The hyaluronic acid used to produce Glycosil™ and HyStem™ is made by a proprietary bacterial-fermentation process using bacillus subtilis as the host in an ISO 9001:2000 process www.biopolymer.novozymes.com. It is produced by Novozymes under the trade name HyaCare® and is 100% free of animal-derived raw materials and organic solvents remnants. No animal-derived ingredients are used in its production and it has very low protein levels and no exotoxins. Its production follows the European Pharmacopoeia.

References

  1. X. Z. Shu, Y. Liu, F. Palumbo, Y. Luo, G. D. Prestwich, “In Situ Crosslinkable Hyaluronan Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering,” Biomaterials, 25, 1339-1348 (2004).
  2. X. Z. Shu, S. Ahmad, Y. Liu, and G. D. Prestwich, “Synthesis and Evaluation of Injectable, In Situ Crosslinkable Synthetic Extracellular Matrices (sECMs) for Tissue Engineering,” J. Biomed Mater. Res. A, 79A(4), 901-912 (2006).