Abstract
Although considerable achievements have been made in the field of regenerative medicine, since self-repair is not an advanced ability of articular cartilage, the regeneration of osteochondral defects is still a challenging problem in musculoskeletal diseases. Cartilage regeneration aims to design a scaffold with appropriate pore structure and biological and mechanical properties for the growth of chondrocytes. In this study, porous scaffolds made of gelatin, hyaluronic acid, alginate, and sucrose in different proportions of 2 g (SL2) and 4 g (SL4) were used as porogens in a leaching process. Sucrose with particle size ranges of 88–177 μm (Hμ) and 44–74 μm (SHμ) was added to the colloid, and the individually cross-linked hydrogel scaffolds with controllable pore size for chondrocyte culture were named Hμ-SL2, Hμ-SL4, SHμ-SL2 and SHμ-SL4. The perforation, porosity, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and proliferation characteristics of the hydrogel scaffold and its influence on chondrocyte differentiation are discussed. Results show that the addition of porogen increases the porosity of the hydrogel scaffold. Conversely, when porogens with the same particle size are added, the pore size decreases as the amount of porogen increases. The perforation effect of the hydrogel scaffolds formed by the porogen is better at 88–177 μm compared with that at 44–74 μm. Cytotoxicity analysis showed that all the prepared hydrogel scaffolds were non-cytotoxic, indicating that no cross-linking agent residues that could cause cytotoxicity were found. In the proliferation and differentiation of the chondrocytes, the SHμ-SL4 hydrogel scaffold with the highest porosity and strength did not achieve the best performance. However, due to the compromise between perforation pores, pore sizes, and strength, as well as considering cell proliferation and differentiation, Hμ-SL4 scaffold provided a more suitable environment for the chondrocytes than other groups; therefore, it can provide the best chondrocyte growth environment for this study. The development of hydrogels with customized pore properties for defective cartilage is expected to meet the requirements of the ultimate clinical application.
Highlights
Especially articular cartilage, is a unique connective tissue composed of cartilage cells and cartilage matrix covering the surface of a joint
The surface topography results show that all scaffolds could interconnect the porous structures
The results show that all hydrogel scaffolds had a ductile compression, and the SHμ-SL4 group with the highest porosity had the best compressive strength
Summary
Especially articular cartilage, is a unique connective tissue composed of cartilage cells and cartilage matrix covering the surface of a joint. In addition to age-related degenerative musculoskeletal diseases, articular cartilage damage may be caused by injury, disease, or permanent wear and tear through life [2]. In order to repair the layered tissue involving different layers of articular cartilage, cartilage–bone interface, and subchondral bone, traditional clinical treatment methods including palliative and repair techniques have made certain progress in pain relief. There are a variety of clinical methods for the treatment of articular cartilage, such as microfractures and autologous/allogenic osteochondral transplantation, there are still some limitations. These include rejection of natural tissue implantation; generation of fibrous tissue instead of hyaline cartilage, resulting in the implant having low stability; and limited mobility [3]
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