Mussel-derived Bioadaptive Artificial Tendon Facilitates the Cell Proliferation and Tenogenesis to Promote Tendon Functional Reconstruction.

Abstract

Tendon injuries range from acute-related trauma to chronic-related injuries are prevalent and bring substantial pain, functional loss, and even disability to the patients. The management of tendon injuries is tricky due to the innate limited regenerative capability of the tendon. Currently, surgical intervention of tendon injuries with artificial tendons remains the standard of care. However, most of artificial tendons are manufactured with synthetic materials, which possess relatively poor biomimetic characteristics and inadequate inherent biodegradability, hence rendering limited cell proliferation and migration for tendon healing. To address these limitations, w e developed a mussel-derived artificial tendon based on double-crosslinked chitosan modification. In this design, decellularized artificial tendon serves as a natural biomimetic scaffold to facilitate the migration and adhesion of tendon repair cells. Additionally, as the cells proliferate, the artificial tendon can be degraded to facilitate tendon regeneration. Moreover, the chitosan cross-linking further enhances the mechanical strength of artificial tendon and offers a controllable degradation. The in vitro and in vivo experimental results demonstrated that mussel-derived artificial tendon not only accelerated the tendon functional reconstruction but also enabled harmless clearance at post-implantation. O ur finding provides a promising alternative to conventional artificial tendons and spurs a new frontier to explore nature-derived artificial tendons. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.