title: Design and characterization of a scaffold for anterior cruciate ligament engineering.
abstract: Advances in biomedical engineering have led to an understanding of the human body's capacity for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) healing if provided the correct impetus--a long-term bioresorbable scaffold that anticipates the defect site's requirements. Tissue engineering an ACL requires a scaffold that can meet multiple and often conflicting mechanical and biological design requirements. The design and characterization of a hydrophilic silk scaffold is presented as an example of the preclinical testing required to fully characterize a scaffold for ACL reconstruction. We hypothesize that by providing a structural scaffold which anticipates ACL repair mechanisms, an "engineered" autologous ligament with excellent functional integrity can be developed by the body itself. Mechanical, biological, and patient-clinician testing demonstrate that the hydrophilic silk scaffold is a mechanically robust, biocompatible, long-term bioresorbable ACL scaffold with demonstrated safety that can be implanted in accordance with standard surgical procedures.
authors.affiliation: Serica Technologies, Inc, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Horan
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toponarski
authors.forename: Heather E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Boepple
authors.forename: Paul P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Weitzel
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Richmond
authors.forename: Gregory H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Altman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation; D006041:Goats; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D051381:Rats; D047011:Silk; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D047011:Silk