Fabrication of quantum dot-conjugated collagen/hyaluronic acid porous scaffold.

A quantum dot (QD)-conjugated collagen-hyaluronic acid (HA) porous scaffold was combined with our previously reported animal model of mice inferior epigastric flaps and QD infusion to study scaffold angiogenesis. A CdSe/ZnS QD-labeled collagen/HA scaffold was fabricated and examined with a confocal microscope. The degradation rate of the scaffold was inversely related to 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide concentration used in cross-linking. There was no cytotoxicity of the QDs as determined by MTT colorimetric assay. Results of the animal implantation study revealed no difference in acute tissue inflammation between scaffolds with or without QD labeling. To study scaffold angiogenesis, we infused the implanted QD-conjugated collagen/HA scaffold with QD of different fluorescence, which can be simultaneously identified by confocal microscope. By these evaluations, we conclude that QD-conjugated collagen/HA porous scaffold is not different from that without conjugation and can be used in our animal model of scaffold angiogenesis without compromising results.