Gellan gum as a natural polysaccharide has good heat resistance, acid resistance and enzymes resistance. However, one of the drawbacks of gellan gum might be the lower mechanical strength. In this work, gellan gum scaffolds were mixed with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microsphere in order to improve mechanical properties. The gellan gum scaffolds with various contents of PLGA microsphere were prepared for the regeneration of disc tissues. To evaluate the mechanical strength of hybrid structure of gellan gum and PLGA microsphere, compression strength of the fabricated scaffolds was measured. MTT analysis, SEM observation, histological evaluation and RT-PCR were performed to confirm the effect on the cell growth and extracellular matrix secretion. As a result, it showed the best cell proliferation and extracellular matrix secretion in gellan gum sponge containing 50% PLGA microspheres. In conclusion, this study confirmed that the hybrid structure of gellan gum and PLGA microspheres was found suitable in regeneration of the intervertebral disc.

Demineralized bone particle (DBP) is a biomaterial used widely in the field of tissue engineering. In this study, in order to study the effect of DBP/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffold on disc regeneration in vivo environment, we prepared the porous DBP/PLGA hybrid scaffold. Disc defect was induced by removing the nucleus pulposus tissue after incision the annulus fibrosus tissue in half and scaffolds were transplanted. After 1, 2 and 3 months later, the extracted discs were confirmed by collagen synthesis and glycosaminoglycan (sGAG). We conducted histology (H&E, Safranin-O, Alcian blue, Type I Collagen, Type II Collagen). From the results, it was confirmed that collagen and sGAG content were high in DBP/PLGA scaffold, and the regeneration of intervertebral disc was possible.

Abstract:The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays an important role in maintaining a healthy retina and the degeneration of RPE caused a number of retinal diseases. The transplantation of RPE has recently become a possible therapeutic modality for retinal degeneration. To transplant RPE cells securely, substrates are essential, and then as a substrate, we fabricated films using silk that has unique mechanical properties and biocompatibility. After the FTIR spectra, contact angle and biodegradation of silk films were confirmed, RPE cells were seeded and the influence of RPE cells on silk films was examined. We measured the cell adhesion, cell viability, morphology and specific mRNA expression by MTT assay, SEM, immunofluorescence and RT-PCR. In this study, we confirmed that attachment, proliferation and phenotype maintenance of RPE cells cultured on silk films were great, and thereby we were able to confirm the potential applications of silk films as tissue engineering carrier for regeneration of retina.

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