title: Nanosized fibers' effect on adult human articular chondrocytes behavior.
abstract: Tissue engineering with chondrogenic cell based therapies is an expanding field with the intention of treating cartilage defects. It has been suggested that scaffolds used in cartilage tissue engineering influence cellular behavior and thus the long-term clinical outcome. The objective of this study was to assess whether chondrocyte attachment, proliferation and post-expansion re-differentiation could be influenced by the size of the fibers presented to the cells in a scaffold. Polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds with different fiber morphologies were produced, i.e. microfiber (MS) scaffolds as well as nanofiber-coated microfiber scaffold (NMS). Adult human articular chondrocytes were cultured in the scaffolds in vitro up to 28 days, and the resulting constructs were assessed histologically, immunohistochemically, and biochemically. Attachment of cells and serum proteins to the scaffolds was affected by the architecture. The results point toward nano-patterning onto the microfibers influencing proliferation of the chondrocytes, and the overall 3D environment having a greater influence on the re-differentiation. In the efforts of finding the optimal scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering, studies as the current contribute to the knowledge of how to affect and control chondrocytes behavior.
authors.affiliation: Biopolymer Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stenhamre
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thorvaldsson
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Enochson
authors.forename: Pernilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walkenström
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lindahl
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brittberg
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gatenholm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002452:Cell Count; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D048430:Cell Shape; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
keywords: Nanofibers; Neocartilage formation; Proliferation; Re-differentiation; Scaffold architecture