Development of Controlled Heterogeneity on a Polymer-Ceramic Hydrogel Scaffold for Osteochondral Repair

Compositional effects on the formation of a calcium phosphate layer and the response of osteoblast-like cells on polymer-bioactive glass composites

“…The decreased overall osteoblast response to the 50% BG surface was unexpected, as solution pH was within the physiological range and the osteoconductivity of the pre-treated 100% BG substrates have been well established in the literature [21,22,37,38]. A similar response was observed for chondrocytes grown on PLAGA-BG scaffolds [39], show Alizarin Red staining of substrates at days 7 and 28, respectively. While ALP activity was similar between 0% BG and 10% BG groups, the amount of mineralization was significantly higher on the 10% BG group, likely a combination of cell-mediated mineralization and surface Ca-P formation on the PLAGA-BG (Fig.…”

Biomimetic Stratified Scaffold Design for Ligament-to-Bone Interface Tissue Engineering

“…More importantly, the scaffold design must promote physiologically relevant interactions between the respective cell populations residing in each tissue type, as heterotypic cellular communication is essential for both the formation and maintenance of distinct yet continuous tissueto-tissue boundaries [42][43][44]. Multi-phasic scaffold designs have been reported in orthopaedic tissue engineering, aimed at promoting the integration of bone with soft tissues such as ligaments and tendons [6,45,46] as well as cartilage [47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

“…Stratified scaffold design has been researched in orthopaedic tissue engineering, in particular for osteochondral tissue engineering [47][48][49][50][51][52]. Autologous osteochondral grafts consist of three distinct yet continuous tissue regions: articular cartilage, osteochondral interface, and bone.…”

“…Recently, we evaluated 3-D osteoblast-chondrocyte coculture on a biomimetic, continuous multi-phased osteochondral construct consisting of a hydrogel-based cartilage region [16], a polymer-ceramic composite microsphere bone region [33], and an interfacial region consisting of a hybrid of the hydrogel and polymer-ceramic composite [47]. It was found that osteoblast and chondrocyte co-culture on this scaffold system supported the formation of distinct yet continuous cartilaginous and osseous matrices, with predesigned integration between these regions achieving a mineralized interfacial region within which direct osteoblastchondrocyte interactions are encouraged.…”

Engineering Complex Tissues

“…86,87 Building upon the foundation of tissue engineering methodologies developed in the past two decades, innovative approaches have been created to address the challenges of biological fixation of soft-tissue grafts. The success of interface tissue engineering will likely depend on a thorough understanding of the structure-function relationships existing at the native insertion site, and the elucidation of the mechanisms governing interface regeneration.…”