Abstract
Background Tendon injuries are common musculoskeletal disorders in clinic. Due to the limited regeneration ability of tendons, tissue engineering technology is often used as an effective approach to treat tendon injuries. Silk fibroin (SF) films have excellent biological activities and physical properties, which is suitable for tendon regeneration. The present study is aimed at preparing a SF film with a bionic microstructure and investigating its biological effects. Methods A SF film with a smooth surface or bionic microstructure was prepared. After seeding tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) on the surface, the cell morphology, the expression level of tenogenic genes and proteins, and the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activation were measured to evaluate the biological effect of SF films. Results The TSPCs on SF films with a bionic microstructure exhibited a slender cell morphology, promoted the expression of tenogenic genes and proteins, such as SCX, TNC, TNMD, and COLIA1, and activated FAK. FAK inhibitors blocked the enhanced expression of tenogenic genes and proteins. Conclusion SF films with a bionic microstructure may serve as a scaffold, provide biophysical cues to alter the cellular adherence arrangement and cell morphology, and enhance the tenogenic gene and protein expression in TSPCs. FAK activation plays a key role during this biological response process.
Highlights
The incidence of tendon injuries has rapidly increased due to inappropriate exercise, accidents, and aging
tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) were negative for hematopoietic stem cell marker CD34 and leukocyte marker CD3, but positive for stem cell markers CD44 and CD90 (Figures 1(a)–1(d))
These results indicate that TSPCs exhibit the characteristic feature of stem cells and that these cells were derived from the tendon, but not from the blood [30]
Summary
The incidence of tendon injuries has rapidly increased due to inappropriate exercise, accidents, and aging. Tendon injuries are usually conservatively treated, such as physical therapy, or surgically treated, such as suturing, autologous, and allogeneic tendon transplantation [3, 4] These treatments often result in scar healing formation and are associated with some disadvantages, such as low mechanical strength and tissue adhesion, which represent a commonly encountered clinical problem [5, 6]. After seeding tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) on the surface, the cell morphology, the expression level of tenogenic genes and proteins, and the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activation were measured to evaluate the biological effect of SF films. SF films with a bionic microstructure may serve as a scaffold, provide biophysical cues to alter the cellular adherence arrangement and cell morphology, and enhance the tenogenic gene and protein expression in TSPCs. FAK activation plays a key role during this biological response process
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