ABSTRACT Cell therapy combined with biomimetic polymer engineering offers a promising strategy for cardiovascular regeneration. Compartmentalizing single cells in hydrogels creates three‐dimensional (3D) micro‐niches that enhance bio‐responsiveness and the therapeutic efficacy of cell therapy. A non‐microfluidic strategy for single‐cell encapsulation using a stimuli‐responsive amphiphilic copolymer, gelatin‐poly(glycerol sebacate)‐methacrylate (GPM) is developed. When incubated with cells at room temperature, GPM self‐assembled into single‐cell vesicles via ligand–receptor–mediated interactions, creating a nanoscale matrix around each cell with near 100% encapsulation efficiency. The presence of bioactive moieties, dynamic mechanical properties, and matrix metalloproteinase mediated degradability enabled reciprocal, cell‐matrix interactions. Consequently, 3D cultures of GPM vesicles encapsulating single endothelial cell (GPM/EC vesicles) promoted deposition of thread‐like extracellular matrix (ECM), which facilitated cell migration and served as a guidance scaffold for vessel‐like network formation. For enhanced in vivo distribution and immunoprotection, GPM/reprogrammed EC vesicles were assembled into injectable microspheres, termed mGPM‐rEC. Upon injection into a mouse hindlimb ischemia model, mGPM‐rEC demonstrated robust cell survival and intramuscular migration with the deposition of dense ECM. This ECM functioned as a reservoir for growth factors and signaling molecules, recruiting host vasculature to promote neovascularization and providing structural and mechanical support for implanted cells to form de novo blood vessels.
Self‐Assembling Copolymers Encapsulating Single Endothelial Cells Induce Endogenous ECM Deposition and Vascular Regeneration
Viola B. Morris·Young‐sup Yoon·Kalp Soni·Simon He·Matthew Huang·Dandan Chen·Dae Hoon Lee·Kyung‐Hee Kim·Seonggeon Cho·Laura Pencea·Divit Jain·Sangho Lee

