Combined decellularisation and dehydration improves the mechanical properties of tissue-engineered sinews

Abstract

Novel sources of replacement sinews are needed to repair damaged tissue after injury. The current methods of repair ultilise autografts, allografts or xenografts, although each method has distinct disadvantages that limit their success. Decellularisation of harvested tissues has been previously investigated for sinew repair with the long-term aim of repopulating the structure with autologous cells. Although this procedure shows promise, the demand for donor scaffolds will always outweigh supply. Here, we report the fabrication of fibrin-based tissue-engineered sinews, which can be decellularised, dehydrated and stored. The sinews may then be rehydrated and repopulated with an autologous cell population. In addition to enabling production of patient-specific implants, interestingly, the process of combined decellularisation, dehydration and rehydration enhanced the mechanical properties of the sinew. The treated sinews exhibited a 2.6-fold increase in maximum load and 8-fold increase in ultimate tensile strength when compared with the control group (p < 0.05 in both cases).

Organotypic Culture of Bone‐Like Structures Using Composite Ceramic‐Fibrin Scaffolds

“…The fibrin‐contraction approach to forming 3‐D tissues that underpins this organotypic bone system has been created and diversified over the past 8 years to suit a variety of cell phenotypes (Baar, ; Bannerman, Paxton, & Grover, ; Huang, Dennis, Larkin, & Baar, ; Iordachescu et al., ; Iordachescu et al., ; Koburger, Bannerman et al. ; Lebled, Grover, & Paxton, ; Mehrban et al., ; Paxton, Donnelly, Keatch, Baar, & Grover, ; Paxton, Grover et al. ; Paxton, Wudebwe, Wang, Woods, & Grover, ; Shaw, Lee‐Barthel, Ross, Wang, & Baar, ; Wang et al., ; Wudebwe et al., ).…”

“…; Paxton, Wudebwe, Wang, Woods, & Grover, ; Shaw, Lee‐Barthel, Ross, Wang, & Baar, ; Wang et al., ; Wudebwe et al., ). The system was initially developed to grow replacement ligaments and tendons for eventual implantation into humans (Lebled et al., ; Paxton et al., ; Paxton et al., ; Paxton, Grover, & Baar, ; Wang et al., ). It then diversified into models to facilitate basic science research into hard‐soft tissue interfaces, sports physiology, and sports rehabilitation (Baar, ; Shaw et al., ).…”

Investigating materials and orientation parameters for the creation of a 3D musculoskeletal interface co-culture model

“…9A and B ). This result was most unexpected, largely due to the fact that fibrin is well known for being an excellent 3D scaffold material for various cell types [ 21–23 , 40 , 41 ] but also that the qualitative images presented in Figs 6 and 8 clearly demonstrated an increase in cellular number visualized via CLSM. From this, the methodology of cell retrieval from fibrin gels was revisited, as based on methodology present in Carrion et al [ 27 ].…”

Functional liver tissue engineering by an adult mouse liver-derived neuro-glia antigen 2-expressing stem/progenitor population

“…Collagen type I is the most abundant form of collagen in the body, whereas collagen type IV is found in the basement membrane and provides bioactive signals to endothelial cells in vasculatures (Hollander, ). Fibronectin is an ECM glycoprotein that plays a role in cell adhesion, growth, migration and differentiation (Lebled et al, ). Laminin exists on the basement membrane and vasculature of most organs.…”