PCL scaffold combined with rat tail collagen type I to reduce keratocyte differentiation and prevent corneal stroma fibrosis after injury

Abstract

The cornea is one of the major refractive eye components with signi cant functions, and its transparency is essential for clear vision. With regard to corneal injury, the corneal epithelium has a strong self-healing ability, while the corneal stroma is not capable of total self-repair. Therefore, preventing brosis and reducing keratocyte differentiation after injury have always been a challenge. The severe shortage of donor corneas for transplantation and transplant rejection prompted the development of corneal tissue engineering. In this study, we fabricated a poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) micro brous scaffold and infused the scaffold with rat tail collagen type I to obtain a 3D composite material. The PCL/collagen scaffold was designed to fabricate an optimal construct that simulates the stromal structure with properties that are most similar to the native cornea. The PCL scaffold has good mechanical properties, and infusion with rat tail collagen type I improved its biocompatibility. The results demonstrate that 3D composite material could reduce keratocyte differentiation, help achieve regular collagen distribution, and promote corneal repair.NanoSupplementarymaterialsandmethods.docx

A Comprehensive Review on Collagen Type I Development of Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering: From Biosynthesis to Bioscaffold

“…However, some prefer to integrate collagen with synthetic polymers such as polycaprolactone (PCL), polyglycolic acids (PLGAs) [ 209 ], polyvinyl alcohol [ 224 ], and glass bead particles [ 225 , 226 ] for various applications. For example, Xu et al (2022) explored the integration of synthetic polymer polycaprolactone (PCL) with rat tail collagen type I to reduce keratocyte differentiation and prevent fibrosis of the corneal stroma after injury [ 227 ]. Peng et al (2021) used PCL with gelatine and magnesium oxide to create nanocellulose membranes via electrospinning for periodontal tissue regeneration.…”

Cell‐instructive biomaterials in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

“…Injured corneas treated with PCL/collagen scaffold exhibited higher proportion of regular collagen distribution and small proportion of fibroblast and myofibroblast like distribution. This reduced fibroblast like behavior indicates role of PCL/collagen scaffolds in corneal fibrosis prevention 29 …”