Oriented lamellar silk fibrous scaffolds to drive cartilage matrix orientation: towards annulus fibrosus tissue engineering.
A novel design of silk-based scaffold is developed using a custom-made winding machine, with fiber alignment resembling the anatomical criss-cross lamellar fibrous orientation features of the annulus fibrosus of the intervertebral disc. Crosslinking of silk fibroin fibers with chondroitin sulphate (CS) was introduced to impart superior biological functionality. The scaffolds, with or without CS, instructed alignment of expanded human chondrocytes and of the deposited extracellular matrix while supporting their chondrogenic redifferentiation. The presence of CS crosslinking could not induce statistically significant changes in the measured collagen or glycosaminoglycan content, but resulted in an increased construct stiffness. By offering the combined effect of cell/matrix alignment and chondrogenic support, the silk fibroin scaffolds developed with precise fiber orientation in lamellar form represent a suitable substrate for tissue engineering of the annulus fibrosus part of the intervertebral disc.
Department of Textile Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India.
Maumita
M
Bhattacharjee
Sylvie
S
Miot
Agata
A
Gorecka
Kunal
K
Singha
Marko
M
Loparic
Sally
S
Dickinson
Anup
A
Das
Neel Sarovar
NS
Bhavesh
Alok R
AR
Ray
Ivan
I
Martin
Sourabh
S
Ghosh
D002356:Cartilage / Q000737:chemistry*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008958:Models, Molecular; D047011:Silk; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D023822:Tissue Engineering
D047011:Silk