Injectable amnion hydrogel-mediated delivery of adipose-derived stem cells for osteoarthritis treatment

Abstract

Current treatment strategies for osteoarthritis (OA) predominantly address symptoms with limited disease-modifying potential. There is a growing interest in the use of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) for OA treatment and developing biomimetic injectable hydrogels as cell delivery systems. Biomimetic injectable hydrogels can simulate the native tissue microenvironment by providing appropriate biological and chemical cues for tissue regeneration. A biomimetic injectable hydrogel using amnion membrane (AM) was developed which can self-assemble in situ and retain the stem cells at the target site. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of intraarticular injections of AM hydrogels with and without ADSCs in reducing inflammation and cartilage degeneration in a collagenase-induced OA rat model. A week after the induction of OA, rats were treated with control (phosphate-buffered saline), ADSCs, AM gel, and AM-ADSCs. Inflammation and cartilage regeneration was evaluated by joint swelling, analysis of serum by cytokine profiling and Raman spectroscopy, gross appearance, and histology. Both AM and ADSC possess antiinflammatory and chondroprotective properties to target the sites of inflammation in an osteoarthritic joint, thereby reducing the inflammation-mediated damage to the articular cartilage. The present study demonstrated the potential of AM hydrogel to foster cartilage tissue regeneration, a comparable regenerative effect of AM hydrogel and ADSCs, and the synergistic antiinflammatory and chondroprotective effects of AM and ADSC to regenerate cartilage tissue in a rat OA model.

Recent Biomimetic Approaches for Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering and Their Clinical Applications: Narrative Review of the Literature

“…e potential for injectable hydrogels to promote cartilage tissue regeneration was demonstrated in this study; the regenerative effect of the hydrogel was comparable with the synergistic anti-inflammatory and chondrogenic effects of the injectable hydrogels to regenerate cartilage tissue in a rat osteoarthritis model [38].…”

Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Laden in Hydrogels for Osteoarthritis Cartilage Regeneration: A Systematic Review from In Vitro Studies to Clinical Applications

“…As reported in Table 3 , in vivo studies were performed in seven studies using natural hydrogels [ 47 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ], in five synthetic hydrogels [ 57 , 59 , 61 , 75 , 76 ] and in one a hybrid hydrogel [ 66 ]. Interestingly, 7 out of 13 studies used non-functionalized [ 61 , 69 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 76 ] and 6 functionalized hydrogels [ 47 , 57 , 59 , 66 , 70 , 75 ].…”

Advanced injectable hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering

“…Preparing acellular ECM hydrogels can maximize the retention of growth factors and low molecular weight peptides present in natural ECM ( Gong et al, 2021 ). At present, bionic and tissue-specific injectable hydrogels are prepared from various acellular ECM (amniotic membrane, cartilage, bone, heart, and lung) for cartilage regeneration engineering ( Bhattacharjee et al, 2020 ; Gong et al, 2021 ; Bhattacharjee et al, 2022 ). Bordbar et al (2020) developed an injectable hydrogel derived from acellular sheep chondrocyte ECM.…”