Evaluation of a Cell-Free Collagen Type I-Based Scaffold for Articular Cartilage Regeneration in an Orthotopic Rat Model

Abstract

The management of chondral defects represents a big challenge because of the limited self-healing capacity of cartilage. Many approaches in this field obtained partial satisfactory results. Cartilage tissue engineering, combining innovative scaffolds and stem cells from different sources, emerges as a promising strategy for cartilage regeneration. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capability of a cell-free collagen I-based scaffold to promote cartilaginous repair after orthotopic implantation in vivo. Articular cartilage lesions (ACL) were created at the femoropatellar groove in rat knees and cell free collagen I-based scaffolds (S) were then implanted into right knee defect for the ACL-S group. No scaffold was implanted for the ACL group. At 4-, 8- and 16-weeks post-transplantation, degrees of cartilage repair were evaluated by morphological, histochemical and gene expression analyses. Histological analysis shows the formation of fibrous tissue, at 4-weeks replaced by a tissue resembling the calcified one at 16-weeks in the ACL group. In the ACL-S group, progressive replacement of the scaffold with the newly formed cartilage-like tissue is shown, as confirmed by Alcian Blue staining. Immunohistochemical and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses display the expression of typical cartilage markers, such as collagen type I and II (ColI and ColII), Aggrecan and Sox9. The results of this study display that the collagen I-based scaffold is highly biocompatible and able to recruit host cells from the surrounding joint tissues to promote cartilaginous repair of articular defects, suggesting its use as a potential approach for cartilage tissue regeneration.

The Role of Collagen-Based Biomaterials in Chronic Wound Healing and Sports Medicine Applications

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Effects of different aperture-sized type I collagen/silk fibroin scaffolds on the proliferation and differentiation of human dental pulp cells

“…Undoubtedly, an ideal scaffold material for dentine–pulp complex regeneration needs to have good biocompatibility, controllable biodegradability, suitable mechanical property and porosity, good surface adhesion property, etc [ 3 ]. As a main component of extracellular matrix, type I collagen plays important roles in bone, cartilage, skin, vessel, nerve and ligament regeneration due to its superior biocompatibility, low immunogenicity and suitable biodegradation properties [ 4–6 ]. Several studies have shown that type I collagen is one of the most ideal scaffold materials for dental pulp regeneration [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Effect of expansion media and fibronectin coating on growth and chondrogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells

“…Many of these processes require an initial step of primary cell expansion. Regenerative medicine typically uses patient's autologous cells, seeds them on suitable support materials, induces cell differentiation through the addition of specific growth factors and then uses the matured construct or the cell secretome to induce healing or for a total replacement of the tissue 4 , 5 .…”