Effects of Mechanical Shear on Anisotropic Tissue Engineered Construct as Potential TMJ Repair

Abstract

An intraarticular disc, separating the articulating bones of Temporomandibular joint (TMJ), is mainly composed of proteins called proteoglycans, collagen majority being collagen type I, II and elastin. Collagen fibers function to resist loads when the tissue experiences any kind of tension [Kim, 2003]. A TMJ disorder is a group of complex problems of TMJ and other tissue associated with it. The main goal of this research is to design and develop an anisotropic tissue engineered biopolymer scaffold to mimic the functional and structural aspect of TMJ disc using poly (ε‐caprolactone) (PCL) as an electrospun fiber embedded with halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) that has the potential for prolonged release of bioactive molecules. It is hypothesized that cellular exposure to the anisotropic PCL scaffold embedded with HNTs loaded bone morphogenetic protein‐2(BMP‐2) and shear stress will enhance ECM deposition, leading to more robust mechanical properties. ATCC pre‐osteoblast were differentiated to osteoblast for this study. Briefly, 5% w/v HNTs and 11% w/v PCL beads were added in chloroform and were sonicated to obtain the polymer solution for electrospinning. This study demonstrated that the BMP‐2 released from HNTs embedded in PCL scaffold had significant effect on osteoblast osteogenic activity. The results suggest that the scaffold has a potential for the development of biodegradable implant for tissue repair.