The hydrocup: a hollow electrospun scaffold for in vivo hydrogel-laden cell delivery

Boaventura Gomes, D.; Zonderland, J.; Vermeulen, S.; Rezzola, S.; Henriques Ferreira Lourenco, A.; van Beurden, D.; Venema, J.; Liu, H.; Peters, M.; Emans, P.; Bouvy, N.; Rademakers, T.; Wieringa, P.; Camarero-Espinosa, S.; Moroni, L.

doi:10.64898/2026.09.19.752872

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.09.19.752872

The hydrocup: a hollow electrospun scaffold for in vivo hydrogel-laden cell delivery

Boaventura Gomes, D.·Zonderland, J.·Vermeulen, S.·Rezzola, S.·Henriques Ferreira Lourenco, A.·van Beurden, D.·Venema, J.·Liu, H.·Peters, M.·Emans, P.·Bouvy, N.·Rademakers, T.·Wieringa, P.·Camarero-Espinosa, S.·Moroni, L.

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Abstract

For regenerative medicine applications, transplanted cells are difficult to retain in a specific place to maximize the localized release of cytokines, which can positively modulate immune responses, angiogenesis and tissue regeneration. Here, we developed a hollow electrospun (ESP) scaffold with one open and one closed end to enclose a hydrogel laden with human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs); we termed this combination the hydrocup. hMSCs remained viable for 28 days in vitro and released functional cytokines similar to hMSCs in transplanted but non-enclosed hydrogels. The hydrocups remained intact and fixed in place for 6 weeks after subcutaneous implantation in rats, demonstrating in vivo compatibility. These results demonstrate that the hydrocup is the first, to our knowledge, cell-laden hydrogel delivery scaffold. This innovation could be developed for a wide variety of cell-based cytokine secretion or drug-laden hydrogel applications.

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Boaventura Gomes, D., Zonderland, J., Vermeulen, S., Rezzola, S., Henriques Ferreira Lourenco, A., van Beurden, D., Venema, J., Liu, H., Peters, M., Emans, P., Bouvy, N., Rademakers, T., Wieringa, P., Camarero-Espinosa, S., Moroni, L.. 2026-09-22. The hydrocup: a hollow electrospun scaffold for in vivo hydrogel-laden cell delivery. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.19.752872

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