Xu Wei, Wang Tao, Wang Yahui, Wu Xiaodi, Chen Yujie, Song Daiying, Ci Zheng, Cao Yilin, Hua Yujie, Zhou Guangdong, Liu Yu
Research Institute of Plastic Surgery, Wei Fang Medical College, Weifang, China.
National Tissue Engineering Center of China, Shanghai, China.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2022 Apr 14;10:884036. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.884036. eCollection 2022.
Cell-hydrogel constructs are frequently used as injectable platforms for irregular cartilage regeneration. However, cell-hydrogel constructs have obvious disadvantages, such as long culture times, high probability of infection, and poor cartilage formation capacity, significantly limiting their clinical translation. In this study, we aimed to develop a novel injectable platform comprising engineered cartilage gel (ECG) and gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) to improve cartilage regeneration. We first prepared an ECG by cutting the engineered cartilage sheet into pieces. The chondrocytes and ECG were evenly encapsulated into GelMA to form Cell-GelMA and ECG-GelMA constructs. The ECG-GelMA construct exhibited preferred gel characteristics and superior biocompatibility compared with the Cell-GelMA construct counterpart. After subcutaneous implantation in nude mice and goat, both gross views and histological evaluations showed that the ECG-GelMA construct achieved more homogenous, stable, and mature cartilage regeneration than the Cell-GelMA construct. Immunological evaluations showed that ECG-GelMA had a mitigatory immunologic reaction than the Cell-GelMA construct. Overall, the results suggest that the ECG-GelMA is a promising injectable platform for cartilage regeneration that may advance clinical translation.
细胞水凝胶构建体经常被用作不规则软骨再生的可注射平台。然而，细胞水凝胶构建体存在明显的缺点，如培养时间长、感染概率高以及软骨形成能力差，这显著限制了它们的临床转化。在本研究中，我们旨在开发一种新型的可注射平台，该平台由工程化软骨凝胶（ECG）和甲基丙烯酸明胶（GelMA）组成，以改善软骨再生。我们首先将工程化软骨片切成小块来制备ECG。将软骨细胞和ECG均匀地封装到GelMA中，形成细胞-GelMA和ECG-GelMA构建体。与细胞-GelMA构建体相比，ECG-GelMA构建体表现出更好的凝胶特性和更高的生物相容性。在裸鼠和山羊皮下植入后，大体观察和组织学评估均显示，与细胞-GelMA构建体相比，ECG-GelMA构建体实现了更均匀、稳定和成熟的软骨再生。免疫学评估表明，ECG-GelMA的免疫反应比细胞-GelMA构建体更轻。总体而言，结果表明ECG-GelMA是一种有前景的用于软骨再生的可注射平台，可能会推动其临床转化。
