title: Designed composites for mimicking compressive mechanical properties of articular cartilage matrix.
abstract: Collagen, chitosan-polycaprolactone (CH-PCL) copolymer with PCL content of around 40wt% and chondroitin sulfate (CS) were mixed together at various ratios to prepare collagen/CH-PCL/CS composites and the resulting composites were used to build stratified porous scaffolds that are potentially applicable for articular cartilage repair. The ternary composites were designed in such a way that collagen content in the scaffolds decreased from the top layer to the bottom layer while the content of CH-PCL and CS altered in a reversed trend in order to reach partial similarity to cartilage matrix in the composition of main components. Porous structures inside collagen/CH-PCL/CS scaffolds were constructed using a low-temperature deposition processing technique and graded average pore-size and porosity for the scaffolds were established. Such produced scaffolds were further crosslinked using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide under optimized conditions, and the obtained scaffolds showed well-defined elastic compressive properties. Compressive modulus (E) and stress at 10% strain (σ10) of full scaffolds in wet state reached about 2.8MPa and 0.3MPa, respectively, and meanwhile, E and σ10 of layers inside hydrated scaffolds changed in a gradient-increased manner from the top layer to the bottom layer with significant differences between contiguous layers, which partially mimics compressive mechanical properties of cartilage matrix. In addition, in vitro culture of cell-scaffold constructs exhibited that scaffolds were able to well support the ingrowth and migration of seeded cells, and cells also showed relatively uniform distribution throughout the scaffolds. These results suggest that the presently developed collagen/CH-PCL/CS scaffolds have promising potential for applications in articular cartilage repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, 430071, PR China.
authors.forename: Youjia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Minnan PET Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen 316003, PR China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Nuclear Technology, Chemistry and Life Science, Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning 437100, PR China. Electronic address: sunshaofa@mail.hbust.com.cn.
authors.forename: Shaofa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: ying_x_wan@yahoo.ca.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D020219:Chondrogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry*; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D019245:Compressive Strength; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011817:Rabbits; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D024043:Collagen Type II; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Articular cartilage matrix; Composite; Compressive mechanical property; Porous scaffold; Stratiform structure