engleski

Biodegradable scaffolds for cartilage culture

Tissue engineering is a promising alternative to conventional treatment of tissue defects and diseases. The main goal of this interdisciplinary field is to synthesize biomaterials suitable for replacement and regeneration of damaged tissues. Chitosan is a versatile material for biomedical applications, commonly used as a biodegradable scaffold for cartilage regeneration due to the composition similar to glycosaminoglycans found in native articular cartilage. Furthermore, chitosan surface can easily be modified by adhesive proteins, such as fibronectin, that mediate cell-scaffold interactions. In this work, commercial chitosan scaffolds with different deacetylation degree and molecular weight have been investigated as potential support for chondrogenic differentiation of sheep nasal chondrocytes. Porous scaffolds were prepared by lyophilisation method and further characterised in terms of microstructure, physical and biological properties. In order to improve cell attachment, scaffolds were modified by fibronectin, an extracellular protein which plays the important role in wound healing and improves chitosan's binding properties. Pure and modified chitosan scaffolds were used as platforms for culture of nasal chondrocytes for 7 and 14 days. The histological analysis on specific genes of final grafts indicated good chondrogenic differentiation on both pure and fibronectin-modified scaffolds after 14 days of culture.

chitosan ; scaffold ; chondrocytes ; cartilage

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