Evaluation of a mPEG‐polyester‐based hydrogel as cell carrier for chondrocytes

Abstract

Temperature-sensitive hydrogels are attractive alternatives to porous cell-seeded scaffolds and is minimally invasive through simple injection and in situ gelling. In this study, we compared the performance of two types of temperature-sensitive hydrogels on chondrocytes encapsulation for the use of tissue engineering of cartilage. The two hydrogels are composed of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)- poly(lactic-co-valerolactone) (mPEG-PVLA), and methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(lactic- co-glycolide) (mPEG-PLGA). Osmolarity and pH were optimized through the manipulation of polymer concentration and dispersion medium. Chondrocytes proliferation in mPEG-PVLA hydrogels was observed as well as accumulation of GAGs and collagen. On the other hand, chondrocytes encapsulated in mPEG-PLGA hydrogels showed low viability and chondrogenesis. Also, mPEG-PVLA hydrogel, which is more hydrophobic, retained physical integrity after 14 days while mPEG-PLGA hydrogel underwent full degradation due to faster hydrolysis rate and more pronounced acidic self-catalyzed degradation. The mPEG-PVLA hydrogel can be furthered tuned by manipulation of molecular weights to obtain hydrogels with different swelling and degradation characteristics, which may be useful as producing a selection of hydrogels compatible with different cell types. Taken together, these results demonstrate that mPEG-PVLA hydrogels are promising to serve as three-dimensional cell carriers for chondrocytes and potentially applicable in cartilage tissue engineering.

The Addition of Platelet-Rich Plasma to Scaffolds Used for Cartilage Repair: A Review of Human and Animal Studies

“…In addition, Kon et al used an acellular scaffold, which could have affected their results because cell-seeded scaffolds may accelerate the repair process. 85 In their study the repair relied on native cells for tissue growth. As seen in this review, studies that used cell-seeded scaffolds generally reported better biochemical results.…”

“…It is important to make sure that the appropriate re-differentiation factors will guide these cells to a chondrocyte fate because contracting fibroblast-like cells will generally create biochemically and biomechanically inferior tissue. [85][86][87][88] PRP is capable of promoting MSC expansion 89 and may help push the differentiation of MSCs to that of a chondrogenic phenotype when seeded onto a scaffold. 90,91 Specifically, transforming growth factor b1 in PRP has been shown to induce the expression of SOX-9 in MSCs.…”

Optimization of Chondrocyte Isolation and Phenotype Characterization for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

“…2,6 In light of this, an improved protocol with enhanced cell isolation efficiency was developed. Instead of performing the usual one round of digestion in collagenase for a prolonged period of time (10-22 h), [9][10][11][12] this new protocol essentially involves three consecutive digestions that comprises 14, 5, and 3 h respectively. For each round of digestion, a freshly prepared digestion medium containing 0.1% (w/v) of collagenase type II is employed.…”

In situcrosslinkable elastomeric hydrogel for long-term cell encapsulation for cardiac applications

“…The crosslinking was initiated by 10 μL of 0.4 M APS and 1 μL of 6 M TEMED. The time taken for sol–gel transition was identified by tube tilting method . Temperature rise during polymerization was detected by a thermometer.…”