Biomaterials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul 136-650, South Korea.
J Biomater Sci Polym Ed. 2010;21(5):581-92. doi: 10.1163/156856209X430579.
For repairing cartilage defects by cartilage tissue engineering, it is important that engineered cartilage that is fabricated with scaffolds and cells can maintain the biological and physiological functions of cartilage, and also can induce three-dimensional spatial organization of chondrocytes. In this sense, hydrogels such as fibrin gels (FG) and hyaluronan (HA) are widely used for application in cartilage treatment. However, the use of hydrogels alone as a scaffold has a physical weakness; the mechanical properties of hydrogels are too weak to endure complex loading in the body. In this study, for mimicking a native cartilage microenvironment, we made cell-hybrid scaffold constructs with poly(L-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL) scaffolds and hydrogels to guide three-dimensional spatial organization of cells and extracellular matrix. A highly elastic scaffold was fabricated from PLCL with 85% porosity and 300-500 microm pore size using a gel-pressing method. The mixture of rabbit chondrocytes and hydrogels was seeded on PLCL scaffolds, and was subcutaneously implanted into nude mice for up to eight weeks. The cell seeding efficiency of the hybrid scaffolds with FG or HA was higher than that of the PLCL scaffolds. From in vivo studies, the accumulation of cartilaginous extracellular matrices of constructs, which was increased by hybridization of hydrogels and PLCL scaffolds, showed that the cell-hybrid scaffold constructs formed mature and well-developed cartilaginous tissue. In conclusion, the hybridization of hydrogels and PLCL scaffold for three-dimensional spatial organization of cells would provide a biomimetic environment where cartilage tissue growth is enhanced and facilitated. It can enhance the production of cartilaginous extracellular matrices and, consequently, improve the quality of the cartilaginous tissue formed.
为了通过软骨组织工程修复软骨缺陷，用支架和细胞构建的工程软骨能够保持软骨的生物学和生理学功能，并且能够诱导软骨细胞的三维空间组织是很重要的。从这个意义上说，纤维蛋白凝胶（FG）和透明质酸（HA）等水凝胶被广泛用于软骨治疗。然而，单独使用水凝胶作为支架有物理上的弱点；水凝胶的机械性能太弱，无法承受体内复杂的负荷。在这项研究中，为了模拟天然软骨微环境，我们用聚（L-丙交酯-co-ε-己内酯）（PLCL）支架和水凝胶制作了细胞-水凝胶复合支架结构，以引导细胞和细胞外基质的三维空间组织。使用凝胶压制法，用 85%的孔隙率和 300-500μm 的孔径制备了具有高弹性的 PLCL 支架。将兔软骨细胞与水凝胶混合物接种到 PLCL 支架上，然后皮下植入裸鼠体内长达 8 周。FG 或 HA 复合支架的细胞接种效率高于 PLCL 支架。从体内研究来看，通过水凝胶和 PLCL 支架的杂交，构建物中软骨细胞外基质的积累增加，表明细胞-水凝胶复合支架构建物形成了成熟和发达的软骨组织。总之，水凝胶和 PLCL 支架的杂交用于细胞的三维空间组织，将提供一个仿生环境，增强和促进软骨组织的生长。它可以增加软骨细胞外基质的产生，从而提高形成的软骨组织的质量。
