Coluccino Luca, Gottardi Riccardo, Ayadi Farouk, Athanassiou Athanassia, Tuan Rocky S, Ceseracciu Luca
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Chemical Engineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, United States.
Ri.MED Foundation, Palermo 90133, Italy.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2018 May 14;4(5):1518-1527. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.7b00879. Epub 2018 Mar 22.
The meniscus has a key role within the knee joint, conferring stability, absorbing and redistributing loads, and influencing the overall movement proprioception. Recent developments in the treatment of meniscal injury have progressively shifted the focus from general resection to functional repair, with the recognition that restoring the biomechanical meniscal function helps to prevent degenerative changes in the knee joint and the insurgence of osteoarthritis. To address this clinical need, we have developed a biomimetic implant based on a porous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel. Such hydrogels are stable, biocompatible, and suitable to surgical translation, and their mechanical properties can be tuned to reduce the mismatch in the case of partial meniscectomy. The PVA implant structure is porous and permeable, allowing fluid flows and facilitating anatomical integration in situ. Here, we present a chemo-physical characterization of PVA porous hydrogels, focusing on their tunable morphology and associated viscoelastic properties. Biocompatibility was evaluated using primary bovine meniscal fibrochondrocytes, and integration with native tissues was assessed in an ex vivo model. Overall, our results suggest that a synthetic meniscal implant based on a porous PVA hydrogel could restore the physiological function of the meniscus and represent a promising clinical alternative to current resection treatments.
半月板在膝关节中起着关键作用，具有稳定关节、吸收和重新分布负荷以及影响整体运动本体感觉的功能。半月板损伤治疗的最新进展已逐渐将重点从一般切除转向功能修复，因为人们认识到恢复半月板的生物力学功能有助于预防膝关节的退行性变化和骨关节炎的发生。为满足这一临床需求，我们开发了一种基于多孔聚乙烯醇（PVA）水凝胶的仿生植入物。这种水凝胶稳定、生物相容性好且适合手术应用，其力学性能可进行调整，以减少部分半月板切除情况下的不匹配。PVA植入物结构多孔且可渗透，允许液体流动并促进原位解剖整合。在此，我们展示了PVA多孔水凝胶的化学物理特性，重点关注其可调节的形态和相关的粘弹性。使用原代牛半月板纤维软骨细胞评估生物相容性，并在体外模型中评估与天然组织的整合情况。总体而言，我们的结果表明，基于多孔PVA水凝胶的合成半月板植入物可以恢复半月板的生理功能，并代表了一种有前景的替代当前切除治疗的临床方案。
