Developing naturally derived hydrogels for meniscus regeneration

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science & Engineering

October 06-08, 2014 Hilton San Antonio Airport, USA

Yi Hong, Jinglei Wu, Qing Ding and Ahana Dutta

Accepted Abstracts: Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Osteoarthritis (OA) and meniscus injury are often met from injury and aging. In the USA alone, approximately 50 million people are affected by OA, and over 50% among them require replacing total joints, which cost approximately $15 billion per year. Tissue engineering (TE) approach to cartilage regeneration has promises to repair damaged or diseased cartilage. Biodegradable scaffolds as one of key elements in TE are expected to offer a complex biological microenvironment mimicking with native tissue to promote cell ingrowth and tissue regeneration. However, current scaffolds cannot simulate the complex microenvironment of native cartilage. To the end, our group developed a biodegradable extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel derived from pig cartilages. The hydrogel contained complex components including collagen, glycosaminoglycan, growth factors and peptides, which were mimetic with biological components in the cartilage. This hydrogel solution was flowable at 4oC and formed a solid hydrogel at a body temperature, which is appropriate for non-invasive surgery. The mechanical properties of the hydrogels could be tuned by altering ECM concentration. The chondrocytes survived and proliferated inside the hydrogel with a round shape due to a good cellular microenvironment. The hydrogel solution was easily injected into a mouse subcutaneous model and formed a solidified hydrogel in vivo. No severe immunogenetic response was observed till to 7 day implantation, indicating a good biocompatibility. The attractive injectability and biomimetic complexity showed that the cartilage-derived hydrogel would be a good candidate to be applied for cartilage regeneration.