Frassica Michael T, Demott Connor J, Ramirez Esteban M, Grunlan Melissa A
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2120, United States.
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-3003, United States.
ACS Macro Lett. 2020 Dec 15;9(12):1740-1744. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00712. Epub 2020 Nov 16.
Scaffolds that recapitulate the spatial complexity of orthopedic interfacial tissues are essential to their regeneration. This requires a method to readily and flexibly produce scaffolds with spatial control over physical and chemical properties, without resulting in hard interfaces. Herein, we produced hydrogel scaffolds with spatially tunable arrangements and chemistries (SSTACs). Using solvent-induced phase separation/fused salt templating (SIPS/salt), scaffold elements are initially prepared with a tunable pore size and with one or more UV-reactive macromers. After trimming to the desired dimensions, these are physically configured and fused together to form the SSTACs. Using this method, three SSTAC designs were prepared, including one that mimicked the osteochondral interface. Bright-field/fluorescent microscopy revealed spatial control of pore size and chemical composition across a relatively smooth and integrated interface, regardless of layer composition. An interface formed by a SSTAC was determined to withstand a similar shear force to an analogous scaffold with no interface.
能够重现骨科界面组织空间复杂性的支架对于其再生至关重要。这需要一种方法，能够轻松灵活地生产出在物理和化学性质上具有空间可控性的支架，且不会产生硬界面。在此，我们制备了具有空间可调排列和化学性质（SSTACs）的水凝胶支架。使用溶剂诱导相分离/熔盐模板法（SIPS/盐），支架元件最初是用可调孔径和一种或多种紫外线反应性大分子单体制备的。修剪成所需尺寸后，将这些元件进行物理配置并融合在一起，形成SSTACs。使用这种方法，制备了三种SSTAC设计，包括一种模拟骨软骨界面的设计。明场/荧光显微镜显示，无论层组成如何，在相对光滑且整合的界面上，孔径和化学成分都具有空间可控性。由SSTAC形成的界面被确定能够承受与无界面的类似支架相似的剪切力。
