Institute of General Electrical Engineering, University of Rostock, 18051 Rostock, Germany.
Institute of Biomaterials, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
Molecules. 2020 Oct 16;25(20):4750. doi: 10.3390/molecules25204750.
Cartilage regeneration is a clinical challenge. In recent years, hydrogels have emerged as implantable scaffolds in cartilage tissue engineering. Similarly, electrical stimulation has been employed to improve matrix synthesis of cartilage cells, and thus to foster engineering and regeneration of cartilage tissue. The combination of hydrogels and electrical stimulation may pave the way for new clinical treatment of cartilage lesions. To find the optimal electric properties of hydrogels, theoretical considerations and corresponding numerical simulations are needed to identify well-suited initial parameters for experimental studies. We present the theoretical analysis of a hydrogel in a frequently used electrical stimulation device for cartilage regeneration and tissue engineering. By means of equivalent circuits, finite element analysis, and uncertainty quantification, we elucidate the influence of the geometric and dielectric properties of cell-seeded hydrogels on the capacitive-coupling electrical field stimulation. Moreover, we discuss the possibility of cellular organisation inside the hydrogel due to forces generated by the external electric field. The introduced methodology is easily reusable by other researchers and allows to directly develop novel electrical stimulation study designs. Thus, this study paves the way for the design of future experimental studies using electrically conductive hydrogels and electrical stimulation for tissue engineering.
软骨再生是一个临床挑战。近年来,水凝胶作为可植入支架在软骨组织工程中崭露头角。类似地,电刺激也被用于提高软骨细胞的基质合成,从而促进软骨组织的工程和再生。水凝胶和电刺激的结合可能为软骨损伤的新临床治疗铺平道路。为了找到水凝胶的最佳电学性质,需要理论考虑和相应的数值模拟来确定实验研究的合适初始参数。我们提出了一种在软骨再生和组织工程中常用的电刺激装置中水凝胶的理论分析。通过等效电路、有限元分析和不确定性量化,我们阐明了细胞接种水凝胶的几何和介电性质对电容耦合电场刺激的影响。此外,我们还讨论了由于外部电场产生的力,细胞在水凝胶内组织的可能性。所引入的方法很容易被其他研究人员重复使用,并允许直接开发新的电刺激研究设计。因此,这项研究为使用导电水凝胶和电刺激进行组织工程的未来实验研究设计铺平了道路。
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