Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Cardiology, Shanghai 9th People's Hospital, Shanghai Key Lab of Tissue Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, P. R. China.
Department of Orthopaedics, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Shandong University Centre for Orthopaedics, Advanced Medical Research Institute, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, P. R. China.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2023 Oct;12(27):e2301006. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202301006. Epub 2023 Jun 30.
Tissue engineering is emerging as a promising approach for cartilage regeneration and repair. Endowing scaffolds with cartilaginous bioactivity to obtain bionic microenvironment and regulating the matching of scaffold degradation and regeneration play a crucial role in cartilage regeneration. Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) is a representative thermosetting bioelastomer known for its elasticity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility and is widely used in tissue engineering. However, the modification and drug loading of the PGS scaffold is still a key challenge due to its high temperature curing conditions and limited reactive groups, which seriously hinders its further functional application. Here, a simple versatile new strategy of super swelling-absorption and cross-linked networks locking is presented to successfully create the 3D printed PGS-CS/Gel scaffold for the first time based on FDA-approved PGS, gelatin (Gel) and chondroitin sulfate (CS). The PGS-CS/Gel scaffold exhibits the desirable synergistic properties of well-organized hierarchical structures, excellent elasticity, improved hydrophilicity, and cartilaginous bioactivity, which can promote the adhesion, proliferation, and migration of chondrocytes. Importantly, the rate of cartilage regeneration can be well-matched with degradation of PGS-CS/Gel scaffold, and achieve uniform and mature cartilage tissue without scaffold residual. The bioactive scaffold can successfully repair cartilage in a rabbit trochlear groove defect model indicating a promising prospect of clinical transformation.
组织工程学作为一种有前途的软骨再生和修复方法正在兴起。为支架赋予软骨生物活性，以获得仿生微环境，并调节支架降解与再生的匹配，这在软骨再生中起着至关重要的作用。聚（癸二酸甘油酯）（PGS）是一种具有代表性的热固性生物弹性体，以其弹性、可生物降解性和生物相容性而闻名，广泛应用于组织工程学。然而，由于其高温固化条件和有限的反应基团，PGS 支架的改性和药物负载仍然是一个关键挑战，这严重阻碍了其进一步的功能应用。在这里，提出了一种简单而通用的新策略，即超溶胀-吸收和交联网络锁定，首次成功地基于 FDA 批准的 PGS、明胶（Gel）和硫酸软骨素（CS）创建了 3D 打印 PGS-CS/Gel 支架。PGS-CS/Gel 支架具有理想的协同特性，包括组织有序的层次结构、优异的弹性、改善的亲水性和软骨生物活性，可促进软骨细胞的黏附、增殖和迁移。重要的是，软骨再生的速度可以与 PGS-CS/Gel 支架的降解很好地匹配，从而实现无支架残留的均匀和成熟的软骨组织。该生物活性支架可成功修复兔滑车沟缺损模型中的软骨，表明其具有良好的临床转化前景。
