Research on the effect of biological glue on augmenting the viscosity of tissue engineering retinal nerve scaffolds

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the adhesion effect of tissue engineering retinal nerve scaffolds modified with biological glue. Methods: Experimental study. To fabricate a biological glue by blending laminin, collagen Ⅳ, entactin and HSPG(2) with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer solution, scaffolds were then modified with the biological glue of various concentration levels (10 μl/cm(2), 20 μl/cm(2), 30 μl/cm(2) and 40 μl/cm(2)). The effects of various concentration levels glue on inducing scaffold adhesion were analyzed after 24 h. Cell count method and CCK-8 kit were used to assess the effects of biological glue on cell growth and toxicity. Then the scaffolds modified with or without glue were transplanted into rabbit's retina by 23 G pars plana vitrectomy. Intraocular pressure(IOP) and retina examination were assessed by ICare, fundus photograph and OCT. The adhesion effects of various concentration levels glue were analyzed by chi-square test. The cell adhesion rate of different scaffolds was analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test. One-Way ANOVA was used to compare the cell survival rate of different scaffolds. After transplantation, the IOP variance of rabbits was analyzed by repetitive measurement deviation analysis. Results: Compared with the control groups, the maximum adhesion rate of the biological glue was 91.7% (χ(2)=8.79, P<0.05) at 30μl/cm(2) concentration level. After 24h of cultivation, cell adhesion rate of glue-scaffold group (86.85%) was significantly higher than that of pure scaffold group (13.78%, U=0.01, P<0.05), while there was no significant difference between the cell survival rates of the two groups (F=7.235, P=0.11). There was no significant difference (F=79.16, P=0.07) between the IOP of viscosity modified group [(18.4+0.93) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa)] and non- modified group [(17.1±0.04)mmHg]. The retina adhesion rate of viscosity modified scaffold was 80% at 7 days postoperatively, and the fundus examination showed no inflammatory response in retina and vitreous cavity. Conclusion: This study showed that the biological glue has favorable viscosity modifying effect on tissue engineering neural retina scaffolds, which is beneficial for the biological material transplantation. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2018, 54: 277-282).