How to make a fibrin hydrogel?

Question

I am wanting to make a scaffold out fibrin hydrogel. I tried looking online for protocols but have been unsuccessful.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hi Ashley M.,

It's always good to have a physical picture of what you are aiming at. I know fibrin is responsible for making a strong blood clot, which suggests that at the concentration present in blood, it is capable of great aggregation once its precursor fibrinogen is cleaved. Furthermore, once it aggregates, that's irreversible, unless you have a potent chaotropic agent (concentrated urea, perhaps?). So -- what concentration do you imagine would be appropriate for a hydrogel with the tissue scaffolding properties you need? And how do you intend to allow the scaffold to form, in the biological clot way (fibrinogen + thrombin + buffer) or by reprecipitation from a concentrated solution, perhaps by dialysis of a chaotropic agent away (which might allow for a gradated gel density)?

Anyway -- just search Google for fibrin hydrogel protocol. I got 690,000 hits, you just need to "wet your feet" a little, and you'll find considerable descriptions.

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.