Authors: Ganesh C Ingavle Nathan H Dormer Stevin H Gehrke Michael S Detamore
Publish Date: 2011/11/25
Volume: 23, Issue: 1, Pages: 157-170
Abstract
We recently introduced agarosepolyethylene glycol diacrylate PEGDA interpenetrating network IPN hydrogels to cartilage tissue engineering that were able to encapsulate viable cells and provide a significant improvement in mechanical performance relative to its two constituent hydrogels The goal of the current study was to develop a novel synthesis protocol to incorporate methacrylated chondroitin sulfate MCS into the IPN design hypothesized to improve cell viability and biosynthesis The IPN was formed by encapsulating porcine chondrocytes in agarose soaking the construct in a solution of 110 MCSPEGDA which was then photopolymerized to form a copolymer network as the second network The IPN with incorporated CS CSIPN ~05 wt resulted in a 4 to 5fold increase in the compressive elastic modulus relative to either the PEGDA or agarose gels After 6 weeks of in vitro culture more than 50 of the encapsulated chondrocytes remained viable within the CSmodified IPN in contrast to 35 viability observed in the unmodified At week 6 the CSIPN had significantly higher normalized GAG contents 347 ± 34 μg/μg than unmodified IPNs 158 ± 27 μg/μg P 005 Overall the approach of incorporating biopolymers such as CS from native tissue may provide favorable microenvironment and beneficial signals to cells to enhance their overall performance in IPNs
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