Geometric confinement is required for recovery and maintenance of chondrocyte phenotype in alginate

Autor: Megan E. Cooke, Mark J. Pearson, Richard J. A. Moakes, Christopher J. Weston, Edward T. Davis, Simon W. Jones, Liam M. Grover
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: APL Bioengineering, Vol 1, Iss 1, Pp 016104-016104-13 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2473-2877
DOI: 10.1063/1.5006752
Popis: Human articular chondrocytes lose their native phenotype when expanded in traditional monolayer cultures. As a consequence, hydrogel encapsulation has been investigated as a means to maintain the natural phenotype. Alginate has been widely used for cartilage engineering as it has been shown to enable the recovery of a native collagen type II expressing chondrocyte phenotype. This study has evaluated whether the capacity of the materials to maintain/revert the phenotype is due to the composition of the material or the physical entrapment provided by the gel. To achieve this, an alginate “fluid gel” (a shear-thinning structured gel system) was produced of identical chemistry to a traditionally gelled alginate structure. Both were seeded with passaged primary human articular chondrocytes. Chondrocytes in quiescent alginate showed the recovery of the native phenotype and a spherical morphology. Chondrocytes in alginate fluid gel were unable to maintain the recovered phenotype despite having a spherical morphology and were shown to have a lower level of entrapment than those in quiescent alginate. These findings indicate that geometric entrapment is essential for the maintenance of a recovered chondrocyte phenotype in alginate.
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