Many carbohydrates pose advantages for tissue engineering applications due to their
hydrophilicity, degradability, and availability of chemical groups for modification. For example,
carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is a water-soluble cellulose derivative that is degradable by
cellulase. Though this enzyme is not synthesized by mammalian cells, cellulase and the fragments
derived from CMC degradation are biocompatible. With this in mind, we created biocompatible,
selectively degradable CMC-based hydrogels that are stable in routine culture, but degrade when
exposed to exogenous cellulase. Solutions of CMC-methacrylate and polyethylene glycol
dimethacrylate (PEG-DM) were co-crosslinked to form stable hydrogels; we found that greater
CMC-methacrylate content resulted in increased gel swelling, protein diffusion and rates of
degradation by cellulase, as well as decreased gel shear modulus. CMC-methacrylate/PEG-DM
gels modified with the adhesive peptide RGD supported fibroblast adhesion and viability. We
conclude that hydrogels based on CMC-methacrylate are suitable for bioengineering applications
where selective degradability may be favorable, such as cell scaffolds or controlled release
devices.