Advances of Stem Cell-Laden Hydrogels With Biomimetic Microenvironment for Osteochondral Repair

Abstract

Osteochondral damage from trauma or osteoarthritis is a general joint disease that can lead to an increased social and economic burden in the modern society. The inefficiency of osteochondral defects is mainly due to the absence of suitable tissue-engineered substrates promoting tissue regeneration and replacing damaged areas. The hydrogels are becoming a promising kind of biomaterials for tissue regeneration. The biomimetic hydrogel microenvironment can be tightly controlled by modulating a number of biophysical and biochemical properties, including matrix mechanics, degradation, microstructure, cell adhesion, and intercellular interactions. In particular, advances in stem cell-laden hydrogels have offered new ideas for the cell therapy and osteochondral repair. Herein, the aim of this review is to underpin the importance of stem cell-laden hydrogels on promoting the development of osteochondral regeneration, especially in the field of manipulation of biomimetic microenvironment and utilization growth factors with various delivery methods.

Recent Advances of Chitosan-Based Injectable Hydrogels for Bone and Dental Tissue Regeneration

“…Hydrogel has a three-dimensional porous and interconnected structure that can create a biocompatible ECM microenvironment for cell attachment and proliferation, which can be served as a potential bone supportive system to enhance remodeling at defect sites ( Ko et al, 2013 ; Liu et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2017a , 2020b ; Xu et al, 2020a,b ). On account of the long and painful invasive surgery for the clinical application of implanted hydrogels, injectable hydrogels are required to have capacities to fill irregularly shaped defects in a non-invasive way, which are recognized as a high-quality and less invasive alternative surgical strategy in BTE ( Li et al, 2020b ).…”

“…If gingivitis is not treated in time, the inflammation can spread from gingival to the periodontal membrane and alveolar bone, thus forming the periodontitis. Due to no obvious conscious symptoms and easy to be ignored at initial stage, once the symptoms are more serious, treatment of such pathology is a great challenge for the clinician ( Cortellini and Tonetti, 2015 ; Larsson et al, 2015 ; Kinane et al, 2017 ; Roi et al, 2019 ; Xu et al, 2020a,b ). In general, reducing the inflammation is a key to control the infection for periodontal therapy, but traditional mechanical treatments like scaling and root planin are closely connected with the wound repair.…”

Advances of Naturally Derived and Synthetic Hydrogels for Intervertebral Disk Regeneration

“…Most of hydrogels can be implanted in vivo with minimal invasive techniques. The standard approach consists of a three-dimensional (3D) biomaterial scaffold with gene vectors, soluble factors and/or biochemical signals to promote the new tissue generation (Li et al, 2020b;Liu Z. Y. et al, 2020;Xu et al, 2020). Furthermore, their crosslinked architectures may provide tissue-like viscoelastic, diffusive transport and interstitial flow characteristics.…”

Synergistic Fabrication of Dose–Response Chitosan/Dextran/β-Glycerophosphate Injectable Hydrogel as Cell Delivery Carrier for Cardiac Healing After Acute Myocardial Infarction

“…Hence, a pouch-like hydrogel materials like collagen, gelatin, and fibroin can serve as a potential and medically advantageous candidate in drug delivery systems, cell therapy, creation and regeneration of muscle tissues, and controlled release of systems. 29 - 32 Nowadays, hydrogel materials are widely used in biomedical and pharmaceutical field for its distinct properties like biocompatible, biodegradable, swelling ability, and non-toxicity. Combination of biopolymers like chitosan (C), with hydrogel has been demonstrated as an efficient candidate for stem cell transplantation.…”