title: A biodegradable composite scaffold for cell transplantation.
abstract: Cell transplantation is rapidly becoming a therapeutic option to treat disease and injury. However, standard techniques for cell seeding on non-woven polymer meshes or within gels may not be suitable for immediate implantation or surgical manipulations of freshly isolated cells. Therefore, a biodegradable composite system was developed as a way to rapidly entrap cells within a support of predefined shape to potentially facilitate cell delivery into a target site (e.g. meniscal tears in the avascular zone). The composite construct consisted of freshly isolated cells, in this case pig chondrocytes, entrapped in a fibrin gel phase and dispersed throughout the void volume of a polyglycolic acid (PGA) non-woven mesh. Composites were cultured for up to 4 weeks. In vitro degradation of fibrin gel was evaluated via gel-entrapped urokinase. At 28 days in culture, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content per cell in the composite scaffolds was 2.6 times that of the PGA-only cell construct group and 88% that of native pig cartilage. Total collagen content per cell in the composite scaffolds was not significantly different from the PGA-only cell construct group (P > 0.02) and represented 40% of the value determined for native cartilage. Varying the concentration of entrapped urokinase could effect controlled degradation of fibrin gel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. gameer@mit.edu
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Ameer
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langer
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000818:Animals; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000637:transplantation*; D005337:Fibrin; D005782:Gels; D006016:Glycolates; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000032:analysis; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D006016:Glycolates; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; C031149:glycolic acid; D005337:Fibrin