Albumin-Coated Bioactive Suture for Cell Transplantation

Abstract

Cell therapy holds the promise for a novel modality in the surgical toolkit; however, delivery of cells into damaged soft tissues constitutes a challenge. The authors hypothesized that growing stem cells on the surface of absorbable sutures in vitro and then implanting them via stitching would be a suitable delivery route for cell therapy. Fibronectin, poly-L-lysine, and albumin coatings were used to increase attachment of human and rat bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) to polyfilament absorbable sutures in vitro. Fluorescence microscopy was performed to localize the cells on the suture. After 48 hours of incubation, the albumin-coated sutures had the highest cell number, and after 168 hours cell number reached confluency. In the in vivo experiments, a 10-mm incision was made on the triceps surae muscle of male Wistar rats and rat BMSC coated sutures were placed into the muscle. Two days after the implantation, cells were seen on the surface of the sutures as well as in the surrounding muscle tissue. Long-term results at 5 weeks showed that transplanted cells survived and the sutures were partly absorbed. In conclusion, coating absorbable sutures with proteins, especially serum albumin, improves attachment and proliferation of cells, and only 48 hours in culture is enough to cover the sutures sufficiently. Using these stitches in vivo resulted in short-term and long-term survival of cells. As a result, albumin-coated suture can be a vehicle for stem cell therapy in soft tissues such as muscle, tendon, or peripheral nerves.

Serum albumin coating of demineralized bone matrix results in stronger new bone formation

“…The authors concluded that surface adsorbed albumin is changing the proliferation and attachment activity of the cells. Additionally, we found similar results on the surface of HSA treated surgical sutures . In that experiment, the serum albumin coated sutures were able to attach significantly more MSCs after 48 h compared with classical attachment proteins like fibronectin and poly‐ l ‐lysine.…”

“…Additionally, we found similar results on the surface of HSA treated surgical sutures. 23 In that experiment, the serum albumin coated sutures were able to attach significantly more MSCs after 48 h compared with classical attachment proteins like fibronectin and poly-L-lysine. More recently, data showed increased early adhesion and faster spreading of human gingival fibroblasts on BSA coated titanium surfaces.…”

Serum albumin as a local therapeutic agent in cell therapy and tissue engineering

“…Different biomaterials with albumin coating are under investigation. We used serum albumin as an attachment protein for stem cells on absorbable suture materials, whereby the protein coating was achieved through a freeze‐drying step . We found significantly higher attached cell number 48 hr after the seeding on the albumin coated surface compared to fibronectin or poly‐l‐lysine.…”

Serum albumin‐coated bone allograft (BoneAlbumin) results in faster bone formation and mechanically stronger bone in aging rats

“…Additionally, stem cell function was tested on various serum albumin‐coated surfaces. It was shown that the serum albumin coating supports stem cell attachment and proliferation, suggesting that serum albumin‐coated biomaterials can be used as vehicles for cell transplantation (Bernards, Qin, & Jiang, ; Horvathy et al, ; Liu et al, ; Weszl et al, ). From these studies, the authors concluded that the BoneAlbumin technique increases local albumin concentration, leading to endogenous stem cell activation.…”