Abstract
Tissue engineering (TE) approaches using biomaterials have gain important roles in the regeneration of cartilage. This paper describes the production by microfluidics of alginate-based microfibers containing both extracellular matrix (ECM)-derived biomaterials and chondrocytes. As ECM components gelatin or decellularized urinary bladder matrix (UBM) were investigated. The effectiveness of the composite microfibers has been tested to modulate the behavior and redifferentiation of dedifferentiated chondrocytes. The complete redifferentiation, at the single-cell level, of the chondrocytes, without cell aggregate formation, was observed after 14 days of cell culture. Specific chondrogenic markers and high cellular secretory activity was observed in embedded cells. Notably, no sign of collagen type 10 deposition was determined. The obtained data suggest that dedifferentiated chondrocytes regain a functional chondrocyte phenotype when embedded in appropriate 3D scaffold based on alginate plus gelatin or UBM. The proposed scaffolds are indeed valuable to form a cellular microenvironment mimicking the in vivo ECM, opening the way to their use in cartilage TE.
Highlights
The main component of the articular cartilage is an extracellular matrix (ECM) containing a relative small number of cells
High pumping rates resulted in an increase in microfiber diameters; this behavior is attributed to the well-known Barus effect (Malkin et al, 1976)
AGf are characterized by uniform staining, since gelatin is homogeneously present within the entire microfiber structure; on the contrary, AUBMf display the presence of urinary bladder matrix (UBM) particles evenly distributed within the microfiber matrix arrowed in Figure 2
Summary
The main component of the articular cartilage is an extracellular matrix (ECM) containing a relative small number of cells. The cartilage reparative strategies, aiming to generate a functional tissue, are mainly based on the combined use of cells, scaffolds, and biomolecules (Poole et al, 2001; Chang et al, 2005; Moutos and Guilak, 2008; Liao et al, 2014). Tissue engineering (TE) approaches for cartilage require some key factors: they include (a) an ideal cell source, (b) a precise control of cell differentiation (e.g., using soluble chemical factors and mechanical stimulation), and (c) an adequate scaffold based on specific biomaterials (Chang et al, 2005; Brown and Badylak, 2014). The use of chondrocytes is limited by rareness of the donor tissues, the instability
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