Evaluation of nanoarchitectured collagen type II molecules on cartilage engineering

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A 2013-02, Vol.101A (2), p.368-377
• Main Authors: Kuo, Shyh Ming, Chiang, Ming Yu, Lan, Cheng Wen, Niu, Gregory Cheng-Chie, Chang, Shwu Jen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcian Blue - metabolism; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Cartilage - drug effects; Cartilage - physiology; cartilage tissue engineering; Cattle; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; chondrocytes; Chondrocytes - drug effects; Chondrocytes - metabolism; Chondrocytes - pathology; collagen type II; Collagen Type II - pharmacology; Extracellular Matrix Proteins - genetics; Extracellular Matrix Proteins - metabolism; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Glycosaminoglycans - metabolism; Health. Pharmaceutical industry; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; nanospheres; Nanospheres - chemistry; Nanospheres - ultrastructure; Rabbits; Staining and Labeling; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments; Tissue Engineering - methods
• ISSN: 1549-3296; 1552-4965
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.34335

Scaffold architecture, including the geometry and dimension of scaffolds, is an important parameter in cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Following the characterization of collagen type II nanoarchitectured molecules, collagen fibrils (CNFs) and collagen spheres (CNPs) prepared using a high‐voltage electric field in our laboratory, we proposed to use these nanoarchitectured molecules to assess their influence on the culturing of chondrocytes in stirred bioreactors. The results demonstrate that chondrocytes rapidly formed more and larger chondrocyte pellets (spheroids) after the addition of nanoarchitectured molecules into the culture medium. The maintenance of chondrocytes with round morphology and increased glycosaminoglycan secretion indicated that these spheroids contained viable and un‐dedifferentiated chondrocytes. No significant increases in DNA content were detected. These results show that the introduction of these molecules did not affect chondrocyte proliferation during a 3‐day culture period. After the addition of CNPs and CNFs into the culture medium, the expression levels of collagen type II and aggrecan genes in chondrocytes increased significantly as demonstrated by real‐time PCR analysis. Interestingly, chondrocytes exhibited distinct collagen type II and aggrecan gene expression profiles in culture with CNPs and CNFs. The aggrecan gene expression level of the chondrocytes was 2.5‐fold greater following CFN addition than following the addition of CNPs. In contrast, the collagen type II expression level of the chondrocytes was 2.2‐fold greater following the addition of CNPs than following the addition of CNFs. The chondrocyte pellets rapidly restored defects in articular cartilage during a 1‐month implantation period in a rabbit model. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2013.