Preparation and assessment of glutaraldehyde‐crosslinked collagen–chitosan hydrogels for adipose tissue engineering

Abstract

A portfolio of crosslinked chitosan:collagen blends was prepared, and their microarchitecture and water binding capacity were studied to investigate their application for adipose tissue engineering. Glutaraldehyde (GA) concentration had little effect on scaffold morphology or water binding capacity. However, the processing freezing temperature prior to lyophilization affected both. In vitro cytocompatibility of pre-adipocytes (PAs) was assessed for a candidate collagen:chitosan blend using two assays. Results confirm the viability of PAs on GA-crosslinked collagen:chitosan scaffolds. A rat subcutaneous pocket assay was employed to assess PA-seeded scaffolds in vivo. Animal tests proved that PA-seeded scaffolds were biocompatible, could induce vascularization, and form adipose tissue.

Biomimetic Extracellular Matrix-Incorporated Scaffold Induces Osteogenic Gene Expression in Human Marrow Stromal Cells

“…31 Further, chitosan has been shown to be biocompatible and biodegradable and is being used in a variety of tissue engineering applications. 32,33 Additionally, chitosan also possesses antimicrobial characteristics, 34 making it an attractive candidate for in vivo applications. We have previously published that a scaffold containing a blend of type I collagen with chitosan increased the mechanical properties of the matrix and that the cellular proliferation rate could be manipulated by varying the composition of the components in a 3D coculture system.…”

Controlling the Porosity and Microarchitecture of Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering

“…37 After preparation of a 9:1 collagen:chitosan blend, glutaraldehyde solution was added to crosslink the mixture before freeze-drying. The freezing temperature before lyophilization was shown to have an impact on the characteristics of the resulting hydrogel.…”

Adipose tissue engineering with cells in engineered matrices

“…Glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen-chitosan hydrogels for soft tissue augmentation were developed by Wu et al 93 The scaffolds were seeded with primary rat adipose precursors isolated from the epididymal fat pad. In vitro, the cells could be visualized on the scaffolds and were viable over a 10-day period.…”