Fabrication and properties of an injectable sodium alginate/PRP composite hydrogel as a potential cell carrier for cartilage repair

Abstract

Three‐dimensional scaffolds like hydrogels can be employed as cell carriers for in vitro or in vivo colonization and have become a major research topic to replace damaged tissue. In the current study, a novel composite hydrogel composed of sodium alginate (SA) and platelet‐rich‐plasma (PRP) varying in blending ratios, cross‐linked with calcium ions, released from calcium carbonate‐D‐Glucono‐d‐lactone (CaCO3‐GDL) was successfully prepared. It was found that addition of PRP changed largely the physical properties and biological performance of the composite hydrogels, which was depending on the blending ratio. The gelation rate and swelling ratio of alginate hydrogels were significantly reduced by the addition of PRP, which produced also a more homogeneous gel structure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) investigation confirmed the incorporation of PRP‐derived proteins in the hydrogel, where a porous structure with a pore size of 200–300 μm was found. On the other hand, an increase in surface roughness was observed after the addition of PRP. The compressive mechanical strength of SA/PRP composite hydrogel was enhanced in comparison to the pure SA gel. The composite hydrogels with the highest PRP content exhibited at a maximum compressive stress of 0.26 MPa a maximum strain of 55%, while the maximum compressive strain of pure SA hydrogels was only 45% at a stress of 0.08 MPa. It was also found that the in vitro degradation of the alginate gel was accelerated by the addition of PRP. In terms of cellular responses, all gels exhibited an excellent cytocompatibility. Indeed, the composite hydrogels supported bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells proliferation and their chondrogenesis with up‐regulation of chondrogenic marker genes Sox9 and Aggrecan. Overall, the present study suggests a great potential of SA/PRP composite hydrogels as cell carriers for cartilage tissue engineering.

Effect of Fibrin Concentration on the In Vitro Production of Dermo-Epidermal Equivalents

“…difference between nonpolymerized and polymerized estates of both types of gels (see Figure S1). wavelength is similar to that reported for plasma-derived and commercial fibrino derived fibrin hydrogels [17] and is in the range of those previously reported in literature, i.e., between 300 nm and 550 nm, with a lower wavelength being unsuit due to potential interference with proteins and DNA [32,[54][55][56].…”

“…By definition, PRP has at least 200-1000 × 103 platelets/µL suspended in plasma, which is attributed to the high content of growth factors in the platelets [26]. PRP has been shown to promote cell growth [27,28] and has been used in various tissue engineering applications in bone [29], [30], cartilage [31,32], skin [33,34], and in vivo applications [35]. These approaches exploit the release of chemo-attractive, angiogenic, proliferative, and putatively pro-regenerative growth factors from PRP, making it suitable as a cell delivery vehicle [36].…”

In Vitro Biological Performance of Alginate Hydrogel Capsules for Stem Cell Delivery

“…Thus, systems capable of delivering and maintaining cells at the site of injection are extremely desirable. In this sense, cell encapsulation is a promising alternative (Gao et al, 2019). Alginate is an anionic hydrosoluble polymer extracted from brown algae and some bacteria (Pseudomonas and Azotobacter) (Araujo et al, 2013;Hay et al, 2013;Mori et al, 2014;Bajpai and Kirar, 2016), cited as a good polymer option for MSCs encapsulation without cell adhesion due to its biocompatibility, biodegradability and low toxicity (Lee and Mooney, 2012).…”

Enhanced delivery efficiency and sustained release of biopharmaceuticals by complexation-based gel encapsulated coated microneedles: rhIFNα-1b example

“…1 B). The biocompatible SA in situ gel has a controllable period of gelation time, allowing the dip-coating procedure for the fabrication of coated MNs [31] , [32] , [33] , and realize the sustained-release of hydrophilic drugs in coated MNs. In the following experiments, the structure of coating was characterized after confirming the manufacturing details.…”