Abstract
Tissue engineering may constitute a promising alternative to current strategies in ligament repair, providing that suitable scaffolds and culture conditions are proposed. The objective of the present contribution is to present the design and instrumentation of a novel multi-chamber tension-torsion bioreactor dedicated to ligament tissue engineering. A preliminary biological evaluation of a new braided scaffold within this bioreactor under dynamic loading is reported, starting with the development of a dedicated seeding protocol validated from static cultures. The results of these preliminary biological characterizations confirm that the present combination of scaffold, seeding protocol and bioreactor may enable us to head towards a suitable ligament tissue-engineered construct.
Highlights
Our novel multichamber tension-torsion bioreactor has been manufactured in the mechanical department of our university
In comparison to previously reported bioreactor [19,39], the system proposed in the present contribution enables the co-culture of six scaffolds under tension-torsion cyclic loads scheduled over several weeks
Results of static cultures have enabled to conclude that the proposed seeding protocols led to a high cellular adhesion and proliferation, and to the whole scaffold colonization in 28 days
Summary
The principle of tissue engineering offers large horizons in the field of reconstructive surgery of the musculoskeletal system, providing that: (1) the native biomechanical function of the tissue to repair is well defined [1,2]; (2) a biodegradable scaffold able to restore this function and to encourage tissue formation is proposed [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]; (3) suitable cells are selected [11] and protocols are proposed to scale-up and seed them within this scaffold [12,13,14,15]; (4) an adapted bioreactor is used both to simulate in vitro the tissue implantation and to provide cells with suitable mechanical stimuli [16,17,18,19,20,21]. There is still no clear consensus concerning the best solution for each of these steps, requiring additional intensive and pluridisciplinary research For some ligaments such as the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) associated with frequent injuries, the range of physiological loadings and the associated strains have been well documented [22,23], as well as the properties of the native tissue [24,25]. The natural step of the approach is to propose protocols enabling a homogeneous seeding of such a scaffold, and to imagine a bioreactor able to simulate its implantation and to provide seeded cells with suitable stimuli. It seems that a bioreactor able to simulate in vitro the implantation of a scaffold for ligaments should reproduce the physiological tension-torsion cycles
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