Abstract
Purpose Tendon injuries are common musculoskeletal system disorders, but the ability for tendon regeneration is limited. Silk fibroin (SF) film may be suitable for tendon regeneration due to its excellent biocompatibility and physical properties. This study is aimed at evaluating the application value of bionic SF film in tendon regeneration. Methods Tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) were isolated from rat Achilles tendon and characterized based on their surface marker expression and multilineage differentiation potential. SF films with smooth or bionic microstructure surfaces (5, 10, 15, 20 μm) were prepared. The morphology and mechanical properties of natural tendons and SF films were characterized. TSPCs were used as the seed cells, and the cell viability and cell adhesion morphology were analyzed. The tendongenesis-related gene expression of TSPCs was also evaluated using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results Compared to the native tendon, only the 10, 15, and 20 μm SF film groups had comparable maximum loading and ultimate stress, with the exception of the breaking elongation rate. The 10 μm SF film group had the highest percentage of oriented cells and the most significant changes in cell morphology. The most significant upregulations in the expression of COL1A1, TNC, TNMD, and SCX were also observed in the 10 μm SF film group. Conclusion SF film with a bionic microstructure can serve as a tissue engineering scaffold and provide biophysical cues for the use of TSPCs to achieve proper cellular adherence arrangement and morphology as well as promote the tenogenic differentiation of TSPCs, making it a valuable customizable biomaterial for future applications in tendon repair.
Highlights
Tendons play a vital role in the ankle movement
The Tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) exhibited fibroblast-like spindle shapes
The TSPCs were positive for CD44 and CD90, but negative for the hematopoietic stem cell marker CD34 and the leukocyte marker CD3 (Figure 1(a))
Summary
Tendons play a vital role in the ankle movement. Acute and chronic sports-related tendon injuries are becoming more frequent in people of all ages, often leading to repeated pain and even disability [1, 2]. Primary treatments include autologous and allogeneic tendon transplantation or artificial tendon replacement. These reconstructive techniques may cause loss of function at the donor site, infection, rejection, or poor graft integration [4]. Silk fibroin- (SF-) based biomaterials have been applied for tissue regeneration recently due to their excellent biocompatibility, controllable mechanical properties, and ease of processing [6,7,8]. We prepared SF films with different bionic microstructures and mechanical properties mimicking healthy rat tendons and investigated their biological effects on rat TSPCs to explore potential applications in human tendon regeneration
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