Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Collaborative Innovation Center of Polymers and Polymer Composite Materials, Department of Macromolecular Science, Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2018 Oct;26(10):1389-1399. doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2018.06.004. Epub 2018 Jun 23.
Nowadays, it is still questionable whether denatured collagen (DCol) can replace the native collagen (Col) as a bioactive protein in cartilage engineering. We sought to study the advantages of Col with a triple-helical structure in the collagen-based composite materials for cartilage engineering.
We presented new three-dimensional (3D) Col and DCol scaffolds with shape memory properties. The effects of Col and DCol scaffolds on rabbit chondrocytes' proliferation, adhesion, differentiation and interaction with matrix were investigated. Tissue compatibility was performed in a subcutaneous Sprague Dawley (SD) rat model. The repair ability of different scaffolds with chondrocytes for full-thickness articular cartilage defects in knee joints of New Zealand white rabbits were investigated.
The results indicated that the Col scaffolds (with concentration 1.6wt% and 0.8wt%, respectively) promoted the proliferation, adhesion and redifferentiation of chondrocytes, as well as chondrocyte-matrix interaction, to a greater degree than the DCol scaffolds. In the animal experiment, the Col scaffolds filled in the defect hole significantly maintained chondrocytes function, promoted cartilage and subchondral bone regeneration, compared with the DCol scaffolds, and the scaffolds loaded with chondrocytes were better than the cell-free scaffolds, especially in the case of the Col scaffolds (1.6 wt%).
Taken together, these insights suggest that the better proliferation, adhesion and redifferentiation of chondrocytes in Col scaffolds with the triple-helical structure may contribute to the greater cartilage repair ability. Col scaffolds may be more appropriate for repairing cartilage defects than DCol scaffolds, and DCol cannot as an alternative when using collagen-based materials for cartilage engineering applications.
目前，变性胶原（DCol）是否可以替代天然胶原（Col）作为软骨工程中的生物活性蛋白仍存在争议。我们旨在研究具有三螺旋结构的 Col 在基于胶原的复合材料中的优势，用于软骨工程。
我们提出了具有形状记忆特性的新型三维（3D）Col 和 DCol 支架。研究了 Col 和 DCol 支架对兔软骨细胞增殖、黏附、分化和与基质相互作用的影响。在皮下 Sprague Dawley（SD）大鼠模型中进行了组织相容性研究。研究了不同含有软骨细胞的支架在新西兰大白兔膝关节全层关节软骨缺损中的修复能力。
结果表明，Col 支架（浓度分别为 1.6wt%和 0.8wt%）在促进软骨细胞增殖、黏附和再分化以及软骨细胞-基质相互作用方面，比 DCol 支架更显著。在动物实验中，与 DCol 支架相比，填充在缺损孔中的 Col 支架显著维持了软骨细胞的功能，促进了软骨和软骨下骨的再生，支架负载软骨细胞的效果优于无细胞支架，尤其是 Col 支架（1.6wt%）。
综上所述，这些结果表明，具有三螺旋结构的 Col 支架中软骨细胞更好的增殖、黏附和再分化能力可能有助于增强软骨修复能力。Col 支架可能比 DCol 支架更适合修复软骨缺损，而在使用基于胶原的材料进行软骨工程应用时，DCol 不能替代 Col。
