Division of Tissue Engineering and Regeneration Technologies, Biomedical Technology Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum 695012, Kerala, India.
J Biomed Mater Res A. 2010 Jul;94(1):146-59. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.32680.
Cells, signaling molecules and three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds are the major contributors to the in vitro regeneration of cartilage. This study evaluates the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to chondrocytes, in a 3D semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) scaffold that gives an appropriate niche for chondrogenic differentiation. The 3D semi-IPN scaffold poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(caprolactone) mimics the properties of extracellular matrix of native cartilage. The chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on the 3D scaffolds is carried out by supplementing signaling molecules like TGFbeta1, TGFbeta3, and BMP2 individually and in two different combinations. The results indicate that each growth factor supplement or combinations showed a different influence on cell morphology, overall distribution of cells, and secretion of cartilage specific molecules. We conclude from our results, that a combination of TGFbeta3 and BMP2 promotes better differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to chondrocytes in our scaffold. This study hence points out that an appropriate combination of 3D scaffolds and signaling molecules are required in the differentiation and maintenance of the chondrogenic phenotype during in vitro regeneration of cartilage tissue. (c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2010.
细胞、信号分子和三维（3D）支架是体外软骨再生的主要贡献者。本研究评估了间充质干细胞在 3D 半互穿聚合物网络（半 IPN）支架中向软骨细胞分化的情况，该支架为软骨分化提供了适当的龛位。3D 半 IPN 支架聚（乙烯醇）和聚（己内酯）模拟了天然软骨细胞外基质的特性。通过单独补充 TGFbeta1、TGFbeta3 和 BMP2 等信号分子，以及两种不同组合的方式，在 3D 支架上进行间充质干细胞的软骨分化。结果表明，每种生长因子补充剂或组合对细胞形态、细胞整体分布和软骨特异性分子的分泌都有不同的影响。我们从结果中得出结论，TGFbeta3 和 BMP2 的组合在我们的支架中更能促进间充质干细胞向软骨细胞的更好分化。因此，这项研究指出，在体外软骨组织再生过程中，需要适当的 3D 支架和信号分子组合来分化和维持软骨细胞表型。（c）2010 年威利父子公司。J 生物医学材料研究，2010 年。
