Flexible and Elastic Scaffolds for Cartilage Tissue Engineering Prepared by Stereolithography Using Poly(trimethylene carbonate)‐Based Resins

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of flexible and elastic poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) structures prepared by stereolithography as scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering. A three-armed methacrylated PTMC macromer with a molecular weight of 3100 g mol(-1) is used to build designed scaffolds with a pore diameter of 350 ± 12 μm and a porosity of 54.0 ± 2.2%. Upon seeding of bovine chondrocytes in the scaffolds, the cells adhere and spread on the PTMC surface. After culturing for 6 weeks, also cells with a round morphology are present, indicative of the differentiated chondrocyte phenotype. Sulphated glycosaminoglycans and fibrillar collagens are deposited by the cells. During culturing for 6 weeks, the compression moduli of the constructs increases 50% to approximately 100 kPa.

Opsonisation of nanoparticles prepared from poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(trimethylene carbonate)-b-poly(malic acid) amphiphilic diblock copolymers: Impact on the in vitro cell uptake by primary human macrophages and HepaRG hepatoma cells

“…Poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) and poly(carbonates) (PCs) have attracted considerable attention for the design of drug delivery systems due to their high biocompatibility and low toxicity (Furrer et al, 2008;Wu et al, 2009;Hazer, 2010;Hu et al, 2012;Shrivastav et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2014;Loyer and Cammas-Marion, 2014;Li and Loh, 2015;Nigmatullin et al, 2015). In this context, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and poly(trimethylene carbonate) have been developed to produce gels and matrices for tissue engineering (Shishatskaya et al, 2004 ;Asran et al, 2010 ;Song et al, 2011 ;Schüller-Ravoo et al, 2013 ;Rozila et al, 2016 ;Ding et al, 2016 ;Pascu et al, 2016 ;Zant et al, 2016) and NPs for drug delivery (Xiong et al, 2010 ;Jiang et al, 2013 ;Fukushima 2016 ;Pramual et al, 2016). Our laboratories have recently synthesized and characterized novel poly(hydroxyalkanoate)-based 7 amphiphilic diblock copolymers, namely poly(-malic acid)-b-poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PMLA-b-PHB) (Barouti et al, 2015) and poly(-malic acid)-b-poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PMLA-b-PTMC) (Barouti et al, 2016a), hydrophobic PMLA Be -b-PHB-b-PMLA Be and amphiphilic PMLA-b-PHB-b-PMLA triblock copolymers (Barouti et al, 2016b) as well as linear and star-shaped thermogelling poly([R]-3-hydroxybutyrate) copolymers (Barouti et al, 2016c).…”

Novel terpolymers of poly(p-dioxanone-co-trimethylene carbonate-co-L-phenylalanine): Synthesis, characterization, thermal properties and copolymerization mechanism

“…One of the simplest and most widely used approaches for modifying homopolymer performance is copolymerization; many copolymers with functional microstructures and desirable physicochemical and mechanical properties have been synthesized for a wide range of applications, like core-shell nanofibers [4] and shape memory materials [5,6] . Copolymers containing trimethylene carbonate (TMC) units are very useful in many biomedical applications because of their increased flexibility, non-acidic degradation products, relatively rapid surface erosion, and enzymatic degradability [7,8] . Polytrimethylene carbonate is a well-known biodegradable polycarbonate used as biomaterials, and polymers that benefit from the synergistic characteristics of both polyesters and polycarbonates are expected to show excellent performance [9] .…”

1984 : on monitoring cell fate in three-dimensional polymeric scaffolds for tissue engineering applications

“…Examples of the most popular and most widely studied biodegradable synthetic polymers in bone tissue engineering are poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(glycolic acid) (PGA) and their co-polymers PLGA [53,56]. Furthermore, other synthetic polymers have been investigated for cartilage and bone reconstruction such as poly-(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based polymers [57,58], poly(caprolactone) (PCL) [59], polycarbonates [60], polyfumarates [61], polyanhydrides [62], and poly(ethylene oxide terephthalate) /poly(butylene terephthalate) (PEOT/PBT) [63] co-polymers or blends thereof [64,65].…”

“…Samples were dehydrated using a sequential ethanol series (60,70,80,90,96 and 100% ethanol, 30 minutes for each step), and subsequently embedded in glycol methacrylate (GMA). The obtained blocks were sectioned at 5 µm intervals, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E, Sigma) for visualization of the nuclei and cytoplasm, and Masson Trichrome to stain for collagen-like ECM formation.…”

“…Samples were dehydrated in increasing concentrations of ethanol (50,60,70,80,90,96 and 100% (v/v)) for 30 minutes per step. Prior to embedding the samples into a twocomponent glycol methacrylate (GMA) (Merck) acrylic resin, the 100% ethanol was exchanged with 50% (v/v) GMA-component A in ethanol and incubated over night (o/n) at 4 • C. Additionally, the samples were immersed in 100% GMA-A for 8 hours at 4…”