title: Efficient transfer of human adipose-derived stem cells by chitosan/gelatin blend films.
abstract: Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are a potential source of abundant mesenchymal stem cells and represent a promising cell-based therapy for tissue damage or degeneration conditions. Previous investigations have demonstrated enhanced therapeutic effects of ASCs in a three-dimensional spheroid culture formulation. In this study, we hypothesize that a composite membrane made of chitosan/gelatin (C/G) is beneficial to facilitate transfer of human ASCs in spheroids. Increasing chitosan content within the blends enhanced the mechanical properties of the sample, including tensile strength and elongation-at-break ratio. Although ASC spheroids developed shortly after seeding on pure chitosan films, increasing gelatin proportion in the C/G blends promoted cell adhesion onto the membranes. We also found that ASCs did not proliferate on chitosan films, but C/G blends of different ratios supported ASC proliferation in the first 4 days of culture. However, ASCs on all C/G blends started to detach from the films to form spheroids after day 4, while ASCs on pure gelatin films remained attached and continued to grow. Gradual gelatin release from the C/G blend films, leading to enriched chitosan content in the blends, probably encouraged ASC detachment and spheroid formation. We placed porous collagen matrix on ASC-seeded C/G blends to simulate the application of ASC-seeded C/G films onto injured tissue and found that a C/G film composed of 75% chitosan could facilitate significantly more cell transfer into the overlying collagen sponge. Therefore, a blend film containing 75% chitosan and 25% gelatin showed promising results to serve as a biomaterial for human ASC-based cell therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine and College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Nai-Chen
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Hsu-Hsien
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Yuan-Kun
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Tai-Horng
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Young
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D018874:Spheroids, Cellular / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D005780:Gelatin; D048271:Chitosan