title: Human elastin polypeptides improve the biomechanical properties of three-dimensional matrices through the regulation of elastogenesis.
abstract: The replacement of diseased tissues with biological substitutes with suitable biomechanical properties is one of the most important goal in tissue engineering. Collagen represents a satisfactory choice for scaffolds. Unfortunately, the lack of elasticity represents a restriction to a wide use of collagen for several applications. In this work, we studied the effect of human elastin-like polypeptide (HELP) as hybrid collagen-elastin matrices. In particular, we studied the biomechanical properties of collagen/HELP scaffolds considering several components involved in ECM remodeling (elastin, collagen, fibrillin, lectin-like receptor, metalloproteinases) and cell phenotype (myogenin, myosin heavy chain) with particular awareness for vascular tissue engineering applications. Elastin and collagen content resulted upregulated in collagen-HELP matrices, even showing an improved structural remodeling through the involvement of proteins to a ECM remodeling activity. Moreover, the hybrid matrices enhanced the contractile activity of C2C12 cells concurring to improve the mechanical properties of the scaffold. Finally, small-angle X-ray scattering analyses were performed to enable a very detailed analysis of the matrices at the nanoscale, comparing the scaffolds with native blood vessels. In conclusion, our work shows the use of recombinant HELP, as a very promising complement able to significantly improve the biomechanical properties of three-dimensional collagen matrices in terms of tensile stress and elastic modulus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale "A. Avogadro", 28100, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boccafoschi
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramella
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sibillano
authors.forename: Liberato
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Caro
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giannini
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Comparelli
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bandiera
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cannas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D002460:Cell Line; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D013552:Swine; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D004549:Elastin
keywords: C2C12; collagen scaffold; extracellular matrix remodeling; human elastin-like polypeptide; tissue engineering