Preparation of Novel Double Cross-Linked Hydrogels of Dietary Fibers and Proteins from Soybeans as Scaffolds for Cultured Meat

The composited hydrogels derived from natural materials are getting attention in the field of cultured meat due to their advantages of biocompatibility and degradability as cell scaffolds. In this work, two edible cross-linking agents, transglutaminase (TGase) and/or calcium ions, were successfully used to cross-link soy protein isolated (SPI) and soy dietary fiber (SDF) to fabricate different scaffolds. The prepared scaffolds were characterized by structural, hydration, rheological, and mechanical analysis. The double cross-linked scaffolds exhibited the highest compressive moduli compared to the single cross-linked scaffolds and had an excellent liquid absorbing ability of up to 309.45%, while its porosity was as high as 72.66%. In addition, NIH 3T3 cells were used to evaluate the biocompatibility of the scaffolds in vitro. The double cross-linked scaffolds could promote the expression of differentiation-related genes and were beneficial for cell adhesion and proliferation. In conclusion, the present research provides a new approach to prepare cell scaffolds using soybean resources, which could be used in cultured meat applications.