School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
Mar Drugs. 2019 Apr 19;17(4):236. doi: 10.3390/md17040236.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is rich in growth factors and has commonly been utilized in the repair and regeneration of damaged articular cartilage. However, the major drawbacks of direct PRP injection are unstable biological fixation and fast or burst release of growth factors. Fucoidan is a heparinoid compound that can bind growth factors to control their release rate. Furthermore, fucoidan can reduce arthritis through suppressing inflammatory responses and thus it has been reported to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis, promote bone regeneration and accelerate healing of cartilage injury. Injectable hydrogels can be used to deliver cells and growth factors for an alternative, less invasive treatment of cartilage defects. In this study, hyaluronic acid (HA) and fucoidan (FD) was blended with gelatin (GLT) and the GLT/HA/FD hybrid was further cross-linked with genipin (GP) to prepare injectable GP-GLT/HA/FD hydrogels. The gelation rate was affected by the GP, GLT, HA and FD concentrations, as well as the pH values. The addition of HA and FD to GLT networks improved the mechanical strength of the hydrogels and facilitated the sustained release of PRP growth factors. The GP-GLT/HA/FD hydrogel showed adequate injectability, shape-persistent property and strong adhesive ability, and was more resistant to enzymatic degradation. The PRP-loaded GP-GLT/HA/FD hydrogel promoted cartilage regeneration in rabbits, which may lead to an advanced PRP therapy for enhancing cartilage repair.
富血小板血浆（PRP）富含生长因子，常用于修复和再生受损的关节软骨。然而，直接 PRP 注射的主要缺点是生物固定不稳定和生长因子的快速或爆发释放。褐藻糖胶是一种肝素类似物，可结合生长因子以控制其释放速度。此外，褐藻糖胶可通过抑制炎症反应来减少关节炎，因此已被报道可预防骨关节炎的进展，促进骨再生并加速软骨损伤的愈合。可注射水凝胶可用于递送细胞和生长因子，以替代侵袭性较小的软骨缺陷治疗方法。在这项研究中，透明质酸（HA）和褐藻糖胶（FD）与明胶（GLT）混合，并用京尼平（GP）进一步交联 GLT/HA/FD 杂化，制备可注射的 GP-GLT/HA/FD 水凝胶。凝胶化速率受 GP、GLT、HA 和 FD 浓度以及 pH 值的影响。HA 和 FD 添加到 GLT 网络中提高了水凝胶的机械强度，并促进了 PRP 生长因子的持续释放。GP-GLT/HA/FD 水凝胶具有足够的可注射性、形状保持性和强粘附性，并且对酶降解的抵抗力更强。负载 PRP 的 GP-GLT/HA/FD 水凝胶促进了兔子软骨再生，这可能导致先进的 PRP 治疗方法来增强软骨修复。
