Oxidized Xanthan Gum Cross-Linked N-O Carboxymethyl Chitosan Hydrogel Promotes Spheroid Formation of Murine Fibroblast by Increasing Cell-Cell Interaction and Integrin αv Expression.

Naturally derived Schiff-based hydrogels are widely fabricated for tissue engineering applications. However, limited studies have explored how the physicochemical and functional groups on polymer chains affect cell behavior in three dimensions. To address this limitation, we fabricated cytocompatible N-O carboxymethyl chitosan (NOCC) cross-linked with oxidized xanthan gum (OXG), incorporating various aldehyde (-CHO) contents (NO1, NO2, and NO3) while maintaining a constant concentration of NOCC, resulting in hydrogels with diverse viscoelastic and aldehyde content properties.