Tissue Engineering of Muscles and Cartilages Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogels

Hyuck Joon Kwon

doi:10.1155/2014/154071

Abstract

The prevalent nature of osteoarthritis that causes the erosion of joint surfaces and loss of mobility and muscle dystrophy that weakens the musculoskeletal system and hampers locomotion underlies the importance of developing functional replacement or regeneration of muscle and cartilage tissues. Polyelectrolyte gels have high potential as cellular scaffolds due to characteristic properties similar to biological matrixes. A number of in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that polyelectrolyte gels are useful for replacement and regeneration of muscle and cartilage tissues. In addition, it was also found that polyelectrolyte gels have high biocompatibility, durability, and resistance to biodegradation. Moreover, polyelectrolyte gels can overcome their drawbacks of mechanical behavior by introducing double network into the gel. This paper reviews the current status and recent progress of polyelectrolyte gel-based tissue engineering for repairs of muscle and cartilage tissues.

Highlights

Impairment in skeletal muscle and cartilage tissues results from injury, aging, and disease such as osteoarthritis to result in the erosion of joint surfaces and loss of mobility and muscle dystrophy that weakens the musculoskeletal system and hampers locomotion [1, 2]
When it was examined how the mechanical property of hydrogel coated with negatively charged sulfonate groups influences differentiation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC), it was shown that MSC chondrogenesis depended on the stiffness of the negatively charged hydrogels and that the soft polyelectrolyte gel effectively induced MSC chondrogenesis even in the absence of differentiation supplements, in comparison with the rigid polyelectrolyte gels (Figure 5) [23]
A loss of muscle and cartilage tissues has resulted in the functional impairment and cosmetic deformation of patients

Summary

Introduction

Impairment in skeletal muscle and cartilage tissues results from injury, aging, and disease such as osteoarthritis to result in the erosion of joint surfaces and loss of mobility and muscle dystrophy that weakens the musculoskeletal system and hampers locomotion [1, 2]. Replacement and regeneration of muscle and cartilage tissues are of great importance and interest scientifically and clinically. Despite the present knowledge of the biological processes underlying the regeneration of muscle and cartilage tissues, repair of the damaged tissues due to injury and pathological conditions remains a complex and unsolved task [3,4,5]. Hydrogels have long attracted considerable attention for tissue engineering because their hydrogels have the structural and compositional similarities to the biological tissues and their extensive framework for cellular proliferation and survival [6, 7]. Polyelectrolyte gels have shown considerable potential as excellent scaffolds for cellular adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation and as artificial tissues for replacement of damaged tissues [14]. This review article describes biomedical application of polyelectrolyte gels for replacement and regeneration of muscle and cartilage tissues

Development of an Artificial Muscle Using Polyelectrolyte Gel

Development of an Artificial Cartilage

Muscle Regeneration Using Polyelectrolyte Gel

Cartilage Regeneration Using Polyelectrolyte Gel

Evaluation of Polyelectrolyte Gel for Practical Use for Tissue Engineering

Conclusion