title: Potential use of collagen-chitosan-hyaluronan tri-copolymer scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering.
abstract: A three-dimensional biodegradable porous scaffold plays a vital role in a tissue engineering approach. Collagen, chitosan and hyaluronan (HA) are natural extracellular matrix (ECM) or similarity, and may provide appropriate environment for the generation of cartilage-like tissue. In this study, we prepared a collagen/chitosan/HA tri-copolymer porous scaffold by freezing and lyophilization to evaluate physico-chemical properties of the tri-copolymer scaffold and its capacity to sustain chondrocytes proliferation and differentiation in vitro. The results show that the mechanical strength, the resistance to enzymatic degradation, and the waterblinding capacity were improved when chitosan and hyaluronan were incorporated into a collagen scaffold. After 21 days of culture, the porous scaffold had been surfaced with cartilaginous tissue. DNA and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) contents were significantly higher during culture periods in collagen/ chitosan/hyaluronan matrix compared to collagen alone matrix, and most seeded cells preserved the chondrocytic phenotype during culture within the scaffold. The collagen/chitosan/hyaluronan tri-copolymer scaffold has potential applications in a cartilage tissue engineering scaffold field.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Jihong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Xuemin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lingrong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Fujun
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tai Wen
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Qiqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002356:Cartilage / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing / Q000379:methods; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D011817:Rabbits; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D003094:Collagen; D048271:Chitosan