Maihemuti Abudureheman, Zhang Han, Lin Xiang, Wang Yangyufan, Xu Zhihong, Zhang Dagan, Jiang Qing
State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Division of Sports Medicine and Adult Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, 210008, Jiangsu, PR China.
Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Orthopedics, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, PR China.
Bioact Mater. 2023 Feb 24;26:77-87. doi: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.02.007. eCollection 2023 Aug.
Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease caused by the deterioration of the knee joint due to various factors such as aging, trauma, and obesity, and the nonrenewable nature of the injured cartilage makes the treatment of osteoarthritis challenging. Here, we present a three-dimensional (3D) printed porous multilayer scaffold based on cold-water fish skin gelatin for osteoarticular cartilage regeneration. To make the scaffold, cold-water fish skin gelatin was combined with sodium alginate to increase viscosity, printability, and mechanical strength, and the hybrid hydrogel was printed according to a pre-designed specific structure using 3D printing technology. Then, the printed scaffolds underwent a double-crosslinking process to enhance their mechanical strength even further. These scaffolds mimic the structure of the original cartilage network in a way that allows chondrocytes to adhere, proliferate, and communicate with each other, transport nutrients, and prevent further damage to the joint. More importantly, we found that cold-water fish gelatin scaffolds were nonimmunogenic, nontoxic, and biodegradable. We also implanted the scaffold into defective rat cartilage for 12 weeks and achieved satisfactory repair results in this animal model. Thus, cold-water fish skin gelatin scaffolds may have broad application potential in regenerative medicine.
膝关节骨关节炎是一种由衰老、创伤和肥胖等多种因素导致膝关节退变引起的慢性疾病，受损软骨的不可再生性使得骨关节炎的治疗具有挑战性。在此，我们展示一种基于冷水鱼皮明胶的三维（3D）打印多孔多层支架，用于骨关节软骨再生。为制备该支架，将冷水鱼皮明胶与海藻酸钠混合以增加其粘度、可打印性和机械强度，然后使用3D打印技术根据预先设计的特定结构打印混合水凝胶。接着，对打印好的支架进行双重交联处理以进一步增强其机械强度。这些支架以一种允许软骨细胞粘附、增殖、相互交流、运输营养物质并防止关节进一步损伤的方式模仿原始软骨网络的结构。更重要的是，我们发现冷水鱼明胶支架具有非免疫原性、无毒且可生物降解的特性。我们还将该支架植入大鼠软骨缺损处12周，并在这个动物模型中取得了满意的修复效果。因此，冷水鱼皮明胶支架在再生医学中可能具有广阔的应用潜力。
