Bioactive nanofibers for fibroblastic differentiation of mesenchymal precursor cells for ligament/tendon tissue engineering applications.
Mesenchymal stem cells and precursor cells are ideal candidates for tendon and ligament tissue engineering; however, for the stem cell-based approach to succeed, these cells would be required to proliferate and differentiate into tendon/ligament fibroblasts on the tissue engineering scaffold. Among the various fiber-based scaffolds that have been used in tendon/ligament tissue engineering, hybrid fibrous scaffolds comprising both microfibers and nanofibers have been recently shown to be particularly promising. With the nanofibrous coating presenting a biomimetic surface, the scaffolds can also potentially mimic the natural extracellular matrix in function by acting as a depot for sustained release of growth factors. In this study, we demonstrate that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) could be successfully incorporated, randomly dispersed within blend-electrospun nanofibers and released in a bioactive form over 1 week. The released bioactive bFGF activated tyrosine phosphorylation signaling within seeded BMSCs. The bFGF-releasing nanofibrous scaffolds facilitated BMSC proliferation, upregulated gene expression of tendon/ligament-specific ECM proteins, increased production and deposition of collagen and tenascin-C, reduced multipotency of the BMSCs and induced tendon/ligament-like fibroblastic differentiation, indicating their potential in tendon/ligament tissue engineering applications.
Sahoo
Sambit
S
National University of Singapore, Singapore. dosss@nus.edu.sg
Ang
Lay-Teng
LT
Cho-Hong Goh
James
J
Toh
Siew-Lok
SL
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008022:Ligaments / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D057139:Nanofibers; D011817:Rabbits; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D013710:Tendons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
D003094:Collagen