A silk fibroin/decellularized extract of Wharton’s jelly hydrogel intended for cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

A hybrid hydrogel was obtained from decellularized extract from Wharton’s jelly (DEWJ) and silk fibroin (SF) and characterized for cartilage tissue engineering. Wharton’s jelly was used due to its similarity with articular cartilage in extracellular matrix composition. Also, silk fibroin has good mechanical properties which make this construct appropriate for cartilage repair. Decellularization of Wharton’s jelly was verified by DAPI staining, DNA quantification, and PCR analysis. Then, the biochemical composition of DEWJ was determined by ELISA kits for total proteins, collagens, sulfated glycosaminoglycans (sGAG), and transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1). After fabricating pure SF and SF/DEWJ hybrid hydrogels, their physical and mechanical properties were characterized by FESEM, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and rheological assays (amplitude and frequency sweeps). Furthermore, cell viability and proliferation were assessed by MTT assay. The results have shown that DEWJ in hybrid hydrogels enhances mechanical properties of the construct relative to pure SF hydrogels. Also, this extract at its 40% concentration in culture media and 20% or 40% concentrations in SF/DEWJ hybrid hydrogels significantly increases population of the cells compared to control and pure SF hydrogel after 7 days. In conclusion, this study proposes the potential of SF/DEWJ hybrid hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering applications.

Extracellular Matrix From Decellularized Wharton’s Jelly Improves the Behavior of Cells From Degenerated Intervertebral Disc

“…Wharton's jelly from umbilical cord is becoming increasingly proposed as an ideal source for obtaining scaffold useful for tissue engineering application (Beiki et al, 2017;Basiri et al, 2019). WJ is easy to obtain as biological waste material, is non-immunogenic, and its use presents no ethical concerns (Forraz and McGuckin, 2011).…”

“…WJ contains abundant collagenic structural proteins (collagen I, III, VI, and XII), other ECM components such as fibronectin, lumican, heparin sulfate, and growth factors (TGFβ, FGFβ, VEGF) (Jadalannagari et al, 2017). It has been demonstrated that DWJM is able to retain many chemotactic factors and soluble bioactive factors positively affecting cell viability and function (Basiri et al, 2019). Therefore, for these different reasons DWJM has been proposed as potential therapeutic agent in many areas (Jadalannagari et al, 2017;Kehtari et al, 2019;Li et al, 2019).…”

“…In particular, the abundance of hyaluronic acid (HA) makes this tissue strongly hydrated, viscous and suitable as potential substitute of NP (Jadalannagari et al, 2017;Bullard et al, 2019). In addition, WJ, being rich in growth factors and cytokines (Penolazzi et al, 2010;Jadalannagari et al, 2017;Najar et al, 2018;Kehtari et al, 2019) is particularly attractive for potential application in tissue engineering (Beiki et al, 2017;Basiri et al, 2019;Li et al, 2019;Walker et al, 2019). In recent years, different methods to decellularize the WJ have been developed and compared, aimed at producing a scaffold able to sustain cell viability and proliferation, and preserve the native ECM microstructure and secretion profile (Stocco et al, 2014;Beiki et al, 2017;Jadalannagari et al, 2017).…”

Human umbilical cord‐derived scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering

“…This suggests significant loss of matrix components, likely glycosaminoglycans with decrease of typical intense vibrational bands observed in N-UC, also described in the literature, at 1550 cm −1 for carboxylate group, 1400 cm −1 for acetyl amino group and 1050 cm −1 sulfate group. 19,20 Real-time PCR Changes of chondrogenic mRNA markers (Col II, Sox9, and Aggrecan) in both tissue and gelatin cells-scaffolds were evaluated by real-time RT-PCR ( Fig. 5).…”

Proanthocyanidin as a crosslinking agent for fibrin, collagen hydrogels and their composites with decellularized Wharton’s-jelly-extract for tissue engineering applications

“…15,16 Wharton's jelly matrix is a connective tissue that encircles the vessels of the umbilical cord and is covered by a simple amniotic epithelium. 16,17 Decellularized Wharton's jelly (DEWJ) is a natural ECM-derived material that can be used to construct a biocompatible matrix. It contains glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), especially hyaluronic acid (HA), collagens II, VI, and XII, fibronectin I and lumican.…”