Agarose Gel as Biomaterial or Scaffold for Implantation Surgery: Characterization, Histological and Histomorphometric Study on Soft Tissue Response

Abstract

Maxillofacial, orthopedic, oral, and plastic surgery require materials for tissue augmentation, guided regeneration, and tissue engineering approaches. In this study, the aim was to develop and characterize a new extrudable hydrogel, based on agarose gel (AG; 1.5% wt) and to evaluate the local effects after subcutaneous implantation in comparison with collagen and hyaluronic acid. AG chemical-physical properties were ascertained through Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and rheological analysis. In vivo subcutaneous implants were performed, and histological and histomorphometric evaluations were done at 1, 4, 12, and 16 weeks. FT-IR confirmed that spectroscopic properties were the same for the baseline agarose and rheological characterization established that AG is a weak hydrogel. Subcutaneous AG implants induced new vessels and fibrous tissue formation rich in neutrophils; the capsule thickness around AG increased until the 12th week but remained thinner than those around hyaluronic acid and collagen. At 16 weeks, the thickness of the capsule significantly decreased around all materials. This study confirmed that 1.5% wt AG possesses some of the most important features of the ideal biocompatible material: safety, effectiveness, costless, and easily obtained with specific chemical and geometrical characters; the AG can represent a finely controllable and biodegradable polymeric system for cells and drug delivery applications.

Nutrient Channels Aid the Growth of Articular Surface-Sized Engineered Cartilage Constructs

“…Furthermore, a recent investigation reported that agarose implanted in rats does degrade as a result of phagocytosis, suggesting that lack of biodegradability may not be a significant concern. 72 This study represents a major advance in our effort to engineer functional, articular surface-sized cartilage constructs for the resurfacing of OA joints. From our perspective, the remaining challenges include (a) the need to reach native levels of collagen content, enhance interstitial fluid pressurization, and produce dynamic compressive moduli and friction coefficients that match native values;…”

Naturally derived biomaterials for development of composite bone scaffold: A review

“…Moreover the physical structure of the gels can be altered by varying the agarose concentration which results in desired pore sizes. Therefore agarose based hydrogel scaffolds [58] and composite scaffolds made of agarose combined with HAp [59] finds its applications in bone tissue engineering.…”

Purinergic Signaling in Early Inflammatory Events of the Foreign Body Response: Modulating Extracellular ATP as an Enabling Technology for Engineered Implants and Tissues

“…However, like other implantable materials, hydrogels based on collagen, 101,102 hyaluronic acid, 101 agarose, 101 polyethylene glycol, 103 and alginates 104 generally elicit an innate immune response in the form of robust infiltration of neutrophils into the surrounding tissue, with subsequent encapsulation. Exceptions to this phenomenon are rare in the literature, but some cross-linked polyethers have been shown to have mild innate immune responses.…”