Ligament regeneration using a knitted silk scaffold combined with collagen matrix.
This study was aimed to develop a new practical ligament scaffold by synergistic incorporation of silk fibers, a knitted structure, and a collagen matrix. The efficacy for ligament tissue engineering was investigated in vitro and in animal models. Cells cultured on a collagen substrate expressed ligament matrix genes at higher levels than those on a silk substrate. The silk scaffold elicited little inflammatory reaction and degraded slowly after subcutaneous implantation in a mouse model. In the rabbit MCL defect model, MCLs treated with a silk+collagen scaffold deposited more collagen, had better mechanical properties, and showed more native microstructure with larger diameter collagen fibrils and stronger scaffold-ligament interface healing than untreated MCLs and those treated with silk scaffolds. These results demonstrated that the knitted silk+collagen sponge scaffold improves structural and functional ligament repair by regulating ligament matrix gene expression and collagen fibril assembly. The findings are the first to highlight the important roles of biomaterials in ligament regeneration biology. Also, the concept of an "internal-space-preservation" scaffold is proposed for the tissue repair under physical loading.
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China.
Xiao
X
Chen
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China.
Yi-Ying
YY
Qi
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Lin-Lin
LL
Wang
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Zi
Z
Yin
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Guo-Li
GL
Yin
Women Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China.
Xiao-Hui
XH
Zou
Center for Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Institute of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China.
Hong-Wei
HW
Ouyang
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003094:Collagen; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D008022:Ligaments / Q000502:physiology*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D011817:Rabbits; D012038:Regeneration; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D047011:Silk
D017931:DNA Primers; D047011:Silk; D003094:Collagen