Riboflavin-induced photo-crosslinking of collagen hydrogel and its application in meniscus tissue engineering.

A meniscus tear is a common knee injury, but its regeneration remains a clinical challenge. Recently, collagen-based scaffolds have been applied in meniscus tissue engineering. Despite its prevalence, application of natural collagen scaffold in clinical setting is limited due to its extremely low stiffness and rapid degradation. The purpose of the present study was to increase the mechanical properties and delay degradation rate of a collagen-based scaffold by photo-crosslinking using riboflavin (RF) and UV exposure. RF is a biocompatible vitamin B2 that showed minimal cytotoxicity compared to conventionally utilized photo-initiator. Furthermore, collagen photo-crosslinking with RF improved mechanical properties and delayed enzyme-triggered degradation of collagen scaffolds. RF-induced photo-crosslinked collagen scaffolds encapsulated with fibrochondrocytes resulted in reduced scaffold contraction and enhanced gene expression levels for the collagen II and aggrecan. Additionally, hyaluronic acid (HA) incorporation into photo-crosslinked collagen scaffold showed an increase in its retention. Based on these results, we demonstrate that photo-crosslinked collagen-HA hydrogels can be potentially applied in the scaffold-based meniscus tissue engineering.

Extracellular-matrix-based and Arg-Gly-Asp-modified photopolymerizing hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering.

Articular cartilage damage is a persistent and increasing problem with the aging population. Strategies to achieve complete repair or functional restoration remain a challenge. Photopolymerizing-based hydrogels have long received an attention in the cartilage tissue engineering, due to their unique bioactivities, flexible method of synthesis, range of constituents, and desirable physical characteristics. In the present study, we have introduced unique bioactivity within the photopolymerizing-based hydrogels by copolymerizing polyethylene glycol (PEG) macromers with methacrylated extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules (hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate [CS]) and integrin binding peptides (RGD peptide). Results indicate that cellular morphology, as observed by the actin cytoskeleton structures, was strongly dependent on the type of ECM component as well as the presence of integrin binding moieties. Further, CS-based hydrogel with integrin binding RGD moieties increased the lubricin (or known as superficial zone protein [SZP]) gene expression of the encapsulated chondrocytes. Additionally, CS-based hydrogel displayed cell-responsive degradation and resulted in increased DNA, GAG, and collagen accumulation compared with other hydrogels. This study demonstrates that integrin-mediated interactions within CS microenvironment provide an optimal hydrogel scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering application.

Application of magnetic nanoparticle for controlled tissue assembly and tissue engineering.

Magnetic nanoparticles have been subjected to extensive studies in the past few decades owing to their promising potentials in biomedical applications. The versatile intrinsic properties of magnetic nanoparticles enable their use in many biomedical applications. Recently, magnetic nanoparticles were utilized to control the cell's function. In addition, intracellular delivery of magnetic nanoparticles allowed cell's positioning by appropriate use of magnetic field and created cellular cluster. Furthermore, magnetic nanoparticles have been utilized to assemble more complex tissue structures than those that are achieved by conventional scaffold-based tissue engineering strategies. This review addresses recent work in the use magnetic nanoparticle for controlled tissue assembly and complex tissue formation.