Evaluation of collagen foam, poly(l‐lactic acid) nanofiber mesh, and decellularized matrices for corneal regeneration

Abstract

Corneal tissue engineering efforts to obtain corneal tissue matrices through various types of materials for the replacement of damaged tissues. In this study, three different corneal constructs were prepared and evaluated in terms of morphological, optical, and biological characteristics. Type-I collagen was used to obtain collagen foam scaffolds through dehydrothermal crosslinking, while poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) was used to produce both random and aligned oriented electrospun corneal constructs. Bovine corneas were decellularized as third matrix. Software analyses showed that average pore size of collagen scaffolds was 88.207 ± 29.7 µm, while the average fiber diameter of aligned and random PLLA scaffolds were 0.69 ± 0.03 and 0.65 ± 0.03 μm, respectively. Degradation profiles revealed that collagen foam exhibits high degradation (20% mass loss) while electrospun PLLA scaffolds hold low degradation (9% mass loss) rates at day-28. Transmittance values of the obtained scaffolds were calculated as 92, 80, and 70% for collagen, PLLA, and decellularized cornea constructs, respectively. The evaluation of stromal keratocyte behavior on the constructs revealed that the cells exhibited their own morphology mostly on the aligned PLLA constructs, while they were mostly active on random PLLA electrospun corneal scaffolds. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 2157-2168, 2018.

Decellularization methods for developing porcine corneal xenografts and future perspectives

“…On the other hand, SDS‐ and HS‐treated DPCXs successfully repopulated with human keratocytes in vitro . HS has been found to be a convenient protocol for recellularization through its establishment of a more ideal environment for human keratocytes . Decellularized human corneas, by using PLA, have also been shown to have sufficient biocompatibility with human keratocytes .…”

“…Sodium dodecyl sulfate is a strong ionic detergent and is the most widely used agent in corneal decellularization practices (either alone or in combination with other agents) due to its extreme efficiency in removing cells and solubilizing cellular membranes. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Numerous studies have reported "complete" or "sufficient" decellularization at different concentrations and exposure times. 19 with protease inhibition and continuous shaking.…”

“…23 HS has been found to be a convenient protocol for recellularization through its establishment of a more ideal environment for human keratocytes. 23,28 Decellularized human corneas, by using PLA, have also been shown to have sufficient biocompatibility with human keratocytes. 59 Human adipose-derived stem cells have also been used to recellularize decellularized human corneas and differentiate into functional keratocytes in the stroma.…”

Application of blocking and immobilization of electrospun fiber in the biomedical field

“…Coupled with the simple preparation process and the possibility of large-scale production, the technology is very attractive to many elds, [9][10][11][12] such as the biomedical eld, lter materials, nanosensors, and nanober-reinforced composites. [13][14][15][16][17] Among them, the biomedical eld is one of the most important application elds, which includes tissue engineering, wound dressing, and drug delivery systems. [18][19][20] A number of specic articles and patents have been reported on this subject.…”

Poly(lactic acid) scaffolds modified by gelatin for the controlled release of tetrandrine in vitro

“…It was therefore approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for certain human clinical applications such as surgical sutures and some implantable devices. Recently, porous PLLA scaffolds were widely investigated in osteoblastic [32], cranial bone [22] , corneal [1], chondrocyte [2] tissue engineering, etc. However, one disadvantage of PLLA scaffold was the complications resulting from the accumulation of lactic acid produced in the process of degradation.…”