Biological Evaluation of Acellular Cartilaginous and Dermal Matrixes as Tissue Engineering Scaffolds for Cartilage Regeneration

Abstract

An acellular matrix (AM) as a kind of natural biomaterial is gaining increasing attention in tissue engineering applications. An acellular cartilaginous matrix (ACM) and acellular dermal matrix (ADM) are two kinds of the most widely used AMs in cartilage tissue engineering. However, there is still debate over which of these AMs achieves optimal cartilage regeneration, especially in immunocompetent large animals. In the current study, we fabricated porous ADM and ACM scaffolds by a freeze-drying method and confirmed that ADM had a larger pore size than ACM. By recolonization with goat auricular chondrocytes and in vitro culture, ADM scaffolds exhibited a higher cell adhesion rate, more homogeneous chondrocyte distribution, and neocartilage formation compared with ACM. Additionally, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) indicated that expression of cartilage-related genes, including ACAN, COLIIA1, and SOX9, was significantly higher in the ADM group than the ACM group. Furthermore, after subcutaneous implantation in a goat, histological evaluation showed that ADM achieved more stable and matured cartilage compared with ACM, which was confirmed by quantitative data including the wet weight, volume, and contents of DNA, GAG, total collagen, and collagen II. Additionally, immunological assessment suggested that ADM evoked a low immune response compared with ACM as evidenced by qPCR and immunohistochemical analyses of CD3 and CD68, and TUNEL. Collectively, our results indicate that ADM is a more suitable AM for cartilage regeneration, which can be used for cartilage regeneration in immunocompetent large animals.

Fabrication of biphasic cartilage-bone integrated scaffolds based on tissue-specific photo-crosslinkable acellular matrix hydrogels

“…This study demonstrated the feasibility of in vitro cartilage regeneration using chondrocyte-loaded hydrogel, but failed to provide related evidence about the chondrogenic regulation of BMSCs. In the concurrent study, we adopted the collagenase digestion strategy as a water-soluble treatment to decrease the negative effect of type Ⅱ collagen triggering inflammation [ 50 , 51 ]. Additionally, ColMA derived from skin was further added to counteract the dramatic loss of collagen components caused by collagenase digestion ( Fig.…”

Three-Dimensional Cartilage Regeneration Using Engineered Cartilage Gel With a 3D-Printed Polycaprolactone Framework

“…The repair of craniofacial cartilage defect has always been a great clinical challenge ( Raub et al, 2013 ; Xue et al, 2018 ), and recent development of tissue engineering technology has provided a promising strategy for repair and reconstruction of various cartilage defects ( Makris et al, 2015 ; Kwon et al, 2019 ; Wei et al, 2021 ). By obtaining a small piece of autologous cartilage for chondrocyte isolation, followed by in vitro amplification, large-volume autologous cartilage regeneration can be achieved ( Armiento et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2020 ; Liau et al, 2021 ). However, up to now, how to construct three-dimensional (3D) cartilage with specific shape and mechanical strength for the repair of craniofacial cartilage defects remains a huge challenge ( Xia et al, 2018 ; Chae et al, 2021 ).…”

Repair of osteochondral defects mediated by double-layer scaffolds with natural osteochondral-biomimetic microenvironment and interface

“…Decellularization effect assessment of the AOM scaffold: Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining, and DNA quantitative analysis were used to evaluate whether the cells were removed completely in the AOM scaffold [ 15 ]. Then, the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, total collagen content, and mechanical strength of the samples before and after acellularization were quantitatively analyzed [ 15 , 39 ]. Galactose-α-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal) content of the samples before and after decellularization was examined by using antigen quantitative detection kit (70101, Sanyao Science, China) according to the method provided by the manufacturer.…”