Open AccessInjectable Alginate Hydrogel Cross-Linked by Calcium Gluconate-Loaded Porous Microspheres for Cartilage Tissue Engineering
Author(s) -
Jinfeng Liao,
BeiYu Wang,
Yixing Huang,
Ying Qu,
Jinrong Peng,
Qian Zhang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
acs omega
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.779
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2470-1343
DOI - 10.1021/acsomega.6b00495
Subject(s) - cartilage , self healing hydrogels , tissue engineering , biomedical engineering , extracellular matrix , calcium alginate , materials science , scaffold , regeneration (biology) , calcium , glycosaminoglycan , chemistry , anatomy , polymer chemistry , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , biology , metallurgy
A great interest has been shown in the injectable scaffolds for cartilage tissue regeneration because it can fill irregularly shaped defects easily through minimally invasive surgical treatments. Herein, we developed a new injectable three-dimensional (3D) alginate hydrogel loaded with biodegradable porous poly(ε-caprolactone)- b -poly(ethylene glycol)- b -poly(ε-caprolactone) microspheres (MPs/Alg) as the calcium gluconate container to cross-link alginate. Suspensions of chondrocytes/alginate and porous microspheres turned into a gel because of the release of calcium gluconate; thus, the injectable composite hydrogels give a 3D scaffold to fit the defects perfectly and integrate the extracellular-matrix-mimicking architecture to efficiently accommodate cartilage cells in situ. Tissue repair in a full-thickness cartilage defect model was controlled at 6, 12, and 18 weeks after the implant by micro-CT and immunohistochemistry to evaluate the healing status. The defect in the MPs/Alg+ cells group achieved an almost complete repair at 18 weeks, and the repaired chondrocytes regained a normal tissue structure. Moreover, the MPs/Alg+ cells-treated group increased the quality of tissue formed, including the accumulated glycosaminoglycan and the uniformly deposited type II collagen. The results point out the promising application of the injectable MPs/Alg-chondrocytes system for cartilage tissue engineering.