title: The influence of Gelatin/PCL ratio and 3-D construct shape of electrospun membranes on cartilage regeneration.
abstract: Scaffolds play an important role in directing three-dimensional (3-D) cartilage regeneration. Our recent study reported the potential advantages of electrospun gelatin/polycaprolactone (GT/PCL) membranes in regenerating 3-D cartilage. However, it is still unknown whether the changes of GT/PCL ratio have significant influence on 3-D cartilage regeneration. To address this issue, the current study prepared three kinds of electrospun membranes with different GT/PCL ratios (70:30, 50:50, 30:70). Adhesion and proliferation of chondrocytes on the membranes were examined to evaluate biocompatibility of the membranes. Cartilage with different 3-D shapes was engineered to further evaluate the influences of GT/PCL ratio on cartilage regeneration. The current results demonstrated that all the membranes with different GT/PCL ratios presented good biocompatibility with chondrocytes. Nevertheless, the high PCL content in the membranes significantly hampered early 3-D cartilage formation at 3 weeks in vivo. Unexpectedly, at 12 weeks, all the cylinder-shaped constructs formed mature cartilage-like tissue with no statistical differences among groups. To our surprise, ear-shaped cartilage regeneration obtained quite different results again: the high PCL content completely disrupted cartilage regeneration even at 12 weeks, and only the least PCL content group formed homogeneous and continuous cartilage with a satisfactory shape and elasticity similar to human ear. All these results indicated that the high PCL content was unfavorable for 3-D cartilage regeneration, especially for the cartilage with a complicated shape, and that GT/PCL 70:30 might be a relatively suitable ratio for ear-shaped cartilage regeneration. The research models established in the current study provide detailed information for cartilage and other tissue regeneration based on electrospun GT/PCL membranes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai 9th People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, Shanghai Stem Cell Institute, National Tissue Engineering Center of China, Shanghai, PR China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Huichuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Jixin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Shifang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yueqian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Aijuan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yilin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Guangdong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002356:Cartilage / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005780:Gelatin / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D012038:Regeneration; D013552:Swine; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011091:Polyesters; C016240:polycaprolactone; D005780:Gelatin
keywords: Cartilage regeneration; Electrospun fibrous membranes; Gelatin; Human-ear shape; Polycaprolactone; Ratio