Bao Wuren, Li Menglu, Yang Yanyu, Wan Yi, Wang Xing, Bi Na, Li Chunlin
School of Nursing, Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities, Tongliao, China.
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics & Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Front Chem. 2020 Feb 12;8:53. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00053. eCollection 2020.
Cartilage injury originating from trauma or osteoarthritis is a common joint disease that can bring about an increasing social and economic burden in modern society. On account of its avascular, neural, and lymphatic characteristics, the poor migration ability of chondrocytes, and a low number of progenitor cells, the self-healing ability of cartilage defects has been significantly limited. Natural hydrogels, occurring abundantly with characteristics such as high water absorption, biodegradation, adjustable porosity, and biocompatibility like that of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM), have been developed into one of the most suitable scaffold biomaterials for the regeneration of cartilage in material science and tissue engineering. Notably, natural hydrogels derived from sources such as animal or human cadaver tissues possess the bionic mechanical behaviors of physiological cartilage that are required for usage as articular cartilage substitutes, by which the enhanced chondrogenic phenotype ability may be achieved by facilely embedding living cells, controlling degradation profiles, and releasing stimulatory growth factors. Hence, we summarize an overview of strategies and developments of the various kinds and functions of natural hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering in this review. The main concepts and recent essential research found that great challenges like vascularity, clinically relevant size, and mechanical performances were still difficult to overcome because the current limitations of technologies need to be severely addressed in practical settings, particularly in unpredictable preclinical trials and during future forays into cartilage regeneration using natural hydrogel scaffolds with high mechanical properties. Therefore, the grand aim of this current review is to underpin the importance of preparation, modification, and application for the high performance of natural hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering, which has been achieved by presenting a promising avenue in various fields and postulating real-world respective potentials.
由创伤或骨关节炎引起的软骨损伤是一种常见的关节疾病，在现代社会中会带来日益增加的社会和经济负担。由于软骨无血管、无神经和淋巴管的特性，软骨细胞迁移能力差，祖细胞数量少，软骨缺损的自我修复能力受到显著限制。天然水凝胶大量存在，具有高吸水性、可生物降解、孔隙率可调节以及与天然细胞外基质（ECM）相似的生物相容性等特性，已发展成为材料科学和组织工程中最适合软骨再生的支架生物材料之一。值得注意的是，源自动物或人类尸体组织等来源的天然水凝胶具有生理软骨的仿生力学行为，这是用作关节软骨替代品所必需的，通过轻松嵌入活细胞、控制降解过程和释放刺激性生长因子，可以实现增强的软骨形成表型能力。因此，在本综述中，我们总结了用于软骨组织工程的各种天然水凝胶的策略和发展概况。主要概念和近期的重要研究发现，血管化、临床相关尺寸和力学性能等巨大挑战仍然难以克服，因为当前技术的局限性在实际应用中需要得到严格解决，特别是在不可预测的临床前试验以及未来使用具有高力学性能的天然水凝胶支架进行软骨再生的尝试中。因此，本综述的主要目的是强调天然水凝胶在软骨组织工程中高性能制备、改性和应用的重要性，这是通过在各个领域展示一条有前景的途径并推测其在现实世界中的各自潜力来实现的。
