Temporal MRI characterization of gelatin/hyaluronic acid/chondroitin sulfate sponge for cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

A tri-copolymer sponge consisting of gelatin, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin sulfate (GHC) was designed to mimic the cartilage environment in vivo for cartilage regeneration. The present study aimed to temporally characterize the magnetic resonance relaxation time of GHC constructs in vivo in a rodent heterotopic model. GHC sponges with cells (GHCc) or without cells (GHC) implanted in rat leg muscle were monitored using MRI (4.7 T MR scanner) on day 0, 7, 14, and 21 after implantation. The results revealed that the transverse relaxation time (T2) of GHC constructs decreased significantly over time when compared to the T2 of GHCc constructs. However, the longitudinal relaxation time (T1) of GHCc and GHC constructs remained stable. Moreover, hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining with antibodies to S100 protein, and types I and II collagen showed that normal morphology, phenotype, and function of chondrocytes were preserved in the GHCc construct. Thus, we concluded that GHC constructs adequately support chondrocyte growth and function. On top of that, T2 may be a useful tool for monitoring cartilage regeneration in GHC constructs.

Imaging challenges in biomaterials and tissue engineering

“…6C) [119,120]. MRI has been employed to characterize cell seeded scaffolds in vivo for cartilage engineering applications using T1 weighted images [121]. …”

Collagen based film with well epithelial and stromal regeneration as corneal repair materials: Improving mechanical property by crosslinking with citric acid

“…A good corneal repair material should also be able to repair the corneal stroma, including recovery to the normal thickness and new stromal cell formation. Collagen protein which is used widely as a biomaterial is a biological macromolecule, with perfect biocompatibility, biodegradability, and biological activity [9][10][11]. Recently, collagen-based films were developed as corneal repair materials and the materials possess outstanding physical, chemical, and biological properties [12,13].…”

MR elastography for evaluating regeneration of tissue‐engineered cartilage in an ectopic mouse model

“…Numerous studies have been performed to study effective imaging markers in tissue repair in various experimental models of cartilage defects in humans or animals . Chou et al temporally characterized the MR relaxation time of a tri‐copolymer sponge in vivo in a rodent heterotopic model. They described that T 2 of the sponge decreased significantly over time, whereas longitudinal relaxation time T 1 remained stable compared with the control.…”