Lee Alvin Kai-Xing, Lin Yen-Hong, Tsai Chun-Hao, Chang Wan-Ting, Lin Tsung-Li, Shie Ming-You
School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 406040, Taiwan.
x-Dimension Center for Medical Research and Translation, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40447, Taiwan.
Biomedicines. 2021 Jun 23;9(7):714. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9070714.
Cartilage injury is the main cause of disability in the United States, and it has been projected that cartilage injury caused by osteoarthritis will affect 30% of the entire United States population by the year 2030. In this study, we modified hyaluronic acid (HA) with γ-poly(glutamic) acid (γ-PGA), both of which are common biomaterials used in cartilage engineering, in an attempt to evaluate them for their potential in promoting cartilage regeneration. As seen from the results, γ-PGA-GMA and HA, with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as the photo-crosslinker, could be successfully fabricated while retaining the structural characteristics of γ-PGA and HA. In addition, the storage moduli and loss moduli of the hydrogels were consistent throughout the curing durations. However, it was noted that the modification enhanced the mechanical properties, the swelling equilibrium rate, and cellular proliferation, and significantly improved secretion of cartilage regeneration-related proteins such as glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and type II collagen (Col II). The cartilage tissue proof with Alcian blue further demonstrated that the modification of γ-PGA with HA exhibited suitability for cartilage tissue regeneration and displayed potential for future cartilage tissue engineering applications. This study built on the previous works involving HA and further showed that there are unlimited ways to modify various biomaterials in order to further bring cartilage tissue engineering to the next level.
在美国，软骨损伤是导致残疾的主要原因，据预测，到2030年，骨关节炎引起的软骨损伤将影响美国30%的总人口。在本研究中，我们用γ-聚谷氨酸（γ-PGA）对透明质酸（HA）进行了改性，γ-PGA和HA都是软骨工程中常用的生物材料，旨在评估它们促进软骨再生的潜力。从结果可以看出，以甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯（GMA）作为光交联剂，γ-PGA-GMA和HA能够成功制备，同时保留γ-PGA和HA的结构特征。此外，水凝胶的储能模量和损耗模量在整个固化过程中保持一致。然而，值得注意的是，这种改性提高了力学性能、溶胀平衡速率和细胞增殖，并显著改善了软骨再生相关蛋白如糖胺聚糖（GAG）和II型胶原蛋白（Col II）的分泌。用阿尔新蓝对软骨组织进行验证进一步表明，HA对γ-PGA的改性表现出对软骨组织再生的适用性，并显示出在未来软骨组织工程应用中的潜力。本研究基于此前涉及HA的工作，并进一步表明，有无数方法可以对各种生物材料进行改性，从而将软骨组织工程提升到一个新的水平。
