In vivo comparison of jellyfish and bovine collagen sponges as prototype medical devices

Abstract

Jellyfish have emerged as a source of next generation collagen that is an attractive alternative to existing sources, such as bovine and porcine, due to a plentiful supply and providing a safer source through lack of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) transmission risk and potential viral vectors, both of which could be transmitted to humans. Here we compare collagen implantable sponges derived for the first time from the Rhizostoma pulmo jellyfish. A further novelty for the research was that there was a comparison for sponges that were either uncrosslinked or crosslinked using 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC), and an assessment on how this affected resorption, as well as their biocompatibility compared to bovine type I collagen sponges. The scaffolds were prepared and examined using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The samples were implanted in adult male Wistar rats for in vivo experimentation. Both crosslinked and uncrosslinked jellyfish collagen sponges showed a significant reduction in histopathology scores over the course of the study, whereas the bovine collagen sponge scores were not significantly reduced. Both jellyfish collagen sponges and the bovine sponge were tolerated well by the hosts, and a recovery was visible in all samples, suggesting that R. pulmo jellyfish‐derived collagen could offer compelling biocompatibility with wound healing applications. We also demonstrate that noncrosslinked samples could be safer with better resorption times than crosslinked samples. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 1524–1533, 2018.

Marine Collagen from Alternative and Sustainable Sources: Extraction, Processing and Applications

“…An in vivo comparative study of jellyfish and bovine sponges as prototype medical devices reported that jellyfish collagen is able to stimulate both transcription and translation, thus enhancing immunoglobulin and cytokine production [50]. Results confirmed an immunological response of jellyfish collagen sponges, comparable to that stimulated by bovine collagen and gelatin [50].…”

“…Scaffolds for tissue engineering made of collagen extracted from the scytphomedusa Rhizostoma pulmo were successfully implanted into a mouse model and showed optimal adsorption and biocompatibility properties [50]. These findings suggest that collagen derived from scyphomedusae may become a suitable replacement for bovine-derived collagen.…”

Surface-Modified Poly(l-lactide-co-glycolide) Scaffolds for the Treatment of Osteochondral Critical Size Defects—In Vivo Studies on Rabbits

“…Through the whole experiment, PLGA/coll scaffolds showed increased neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and intensive inflammatory response. This observation was particularly surprising for us, as in general collagen is regarded as biocompatible and low-immunogenic material [ 37 ]. This evidenced that xenograft proteins (in our case collagen obtained from bovine tendons) evoked more pronounced immunological response in rabbits in comparison to synthetic PLGA or biomimetic HAp.…”

“…Besides the interspecies difference, collagen is a material of natural origin, thus its properties may vary depending on production batch, purification procedure, or storage conditions [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Several concerns over the use of collagen of bovine origin have already been raised, mainly connected to possible transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or viruses [ 37 , 44 ]. Thus, novel sources of collagen are being developed, including fish skin, jelly fish, plants, or synthetic KOD (a synthetic analogue of collagen composed of 36 amino acids organized into triple-helixes) [ 45 , 46 ].…”

Electrospinning of Functional Nanofibers for Regenerative Medicine: From Bench to Commercial Scale

“…However, these sources have problems with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), other Transmittable Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) and potential viral vectors that could be transmissible to humans [83,84]. More recently, jellyfish have emerged as a source of collagen that is an attractive alternative to existing sources due to a plentiful supply Williams [85] and a safer source through lack of BSE risk and potential viral vectors [86] while exhibiting good performance in vivo when compared to bovine sources [87].…”