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Development of tissue‐engineered substitutes of the ear ossicles: PORP‐shaped poly(propylene fumarate)‐based scaffolds cultured with human mesenchymal stromal cells
Author(s) -
Danti Serena,
D'Alessandro Delfo,
Pietrabissa Andrea,
Petrini Mario,
Berrettini Stefano
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.32447
Subject(s) - materials science , mesenchymal stem cell , biomedical engineering , ossicle , stromal cell , biocompatible material , scaffold , tissue engineering , middle ear , microbiology and biotechnology , anatomy , biology , medicine , pathology
This is a novel study aimed at exploring possible tissue engineering (TE) options for fabricating middle ear ossicle replacements. Alternatives to prosthetic replacements currently used in ossiculoplasty are desirable, considering that current devices are known to suffer from a persistent rejection phenomenon, known as extrusion. In this study a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, poly(propylene fumarate)/poly(propylene fumarate)‐diacrylate (PPF/PPF‐DA), was chosen to assess the fabrication feasibility of highly porous devices shaped as partial ossicular replacement prostheses (PORPs). PORP‐like scaffolds were produced, and their poral features (porosity and pore interconnectivity) were evaluated via micro‐CT. In addition, their capability to support human mesenchymal stromal cell (hMSC) colonization and osteoblastic differentiation in vitro was investigated with both quantitative and qualitative analyses. This report summarizes and discusses all the fundamental issues associated with ossicle prosthetization as well as the challenging opportunities potentially offered to middle ear reconstruction by TE; moreover it demonstrates that PPF/PPF‐DA PORP‐like scaffolds can be appropriately fabricated to allow both the colonization of hMSCs and their osteoblastic maturation in vitro . Specifically, the expression patterns of the main osteogenic markers (alkaline phosphatase, calcium) and of various matrix biomolecules (glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans, collagen I) were studied. These preliminarily obtained outcomes may launch a new trend in otology dedicated to TE ossicle development to improve on the performance of current prosthetic replacements. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 2010