Karaca Mehmet Ali, Khalili Vida, Ege Duygu
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Institut für Werkstoffe, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Biopolymers. 2025 Jan;116(1):e23641. doi: 10.1002/bip.23641.
Cartilage damage resulting from trauma demonstrates a poor capacity for repair due to its avascular nature. Cartilage tissue engineering offers a unique therapeutic option for cartilage recovery. In this study, methylcellulose (MC)/gelatin (GEL) hydrogels (MC10G20, MC12.5G20, MC15G20, and MC17.5G20) were developed to assess and compare their chemical, mechanical, and biological characteristics for cartilage repair. First, the interaction between MC and GEL after blending and subsequent crosslinking with EDC/NHS was confirmed by using FTIR. Mechanical tests under compression test revealed that hydrogels' resistance to both elastic and plastic deformation increased with higher wt.% of MC. The % strain of the hydrogels doubled with the addition of MC, likely due to abundant hydrogen bonding between polymeric chains. Furthermore, the compressive modulus of MC/GEL hydrogels was approximately 0.2 MPa, closely matching modulus of human cartilage tissue. Similarly, the % water retention capacity of the hydrogels increased over the 7 days as the MC content increased. Additionally, SEM images showed that the incorporation of MC to GEL introduced porosity with the diameters ranging from 10 to 50 μm, similar to the size of pores in native cartilage. In vitro cell culture studies confirmed the biocompatibility of MC/GEL hydrogels. Fluorescence staining showed a 2.5-fold increase in F-actin staining following the incorporation of MC into the hydrogels. Overall, this study highlights the potential of MC/GEL hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering, however, further research is required to assess its full potential.
创伤导致的软骨损伤因其无血管特性而显示出较差的修复能力。软骨组织工程为软骨恢复提供了一种独特的治疗选择。在本研究中，开发了甲基纤维素（MC）/明胶（GEL）水凝胶（MC10G20、MC12.5G20、MC15G20和MC17.5G20），以评估和比较它们用于软骨修复的化学、力学和生物学特性。首先，通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）证实了MC和GEL混合后以及随后与EDC/NHS交联后的相互作用。压缩试验下的力学测试表明，随着MC重量百分比的增加，水凝胶对弹性和塑性变形的抵抗力增强。随着MC的添加，水凝胶的应变百分比增加了一倍，这可能是由于聚合物链之间存在大量氢键。此外，MC/GEL水凝胶的压缩模量约为0.2MPa，与人体软骨组织的模量非常匹配。同样，随着MC含量的增加，水凝胶在7天内的保水能力百分比也增加。此外，扫描电子显微镜（SEM）图像显示，MC与GEL的结合引入了直径范围为10至50μm的孔隙，类似于天然软骨中的孔隙大小。体外细胞培养研究证实了MC/GEL水凝胶的生物相容性。荧光染色显示，将MC掺入水凝胶后，F-肌动蛋白染色增加了2.5倍。总体而言，本研究突出了MC/GEL水凝胶在软骨组织工程中的潜力，然而，需要进一步研究以评估其全部潜力。
