Tough, Semisynthetic Hydrogels for Adipose Derived Stem Cell Delivery for Chondral Defect Repair.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Cell-based therapies have great potential to regenerate and repair injured articular cartilage, and a range of synthetic and natural polymer-based hydrogels have been used in combination with stem cells and growth factors for this purpose. Although the hydrogel scaffolds developed to date possess many favorable characteristics, achieving the required mechanical properties has remained a challenge. A hydrogel system with tunable mechanical properties, composed of a mixture of natural and synthetic polymers, and its use for the encapsulation of adipose derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs) is described. Solutions of methacrylated chondroitin sulfate (MCS) are mixed with solutions of acrylate-poly(trimethylene carbonate)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(trimethylene carbonate)-acrylate (PEG-(PTMC-A) 2 ) in phosphate buffered saline and crosslinked via thermally initiated free radical polymerization. The hydrogel compressive equilibrium moduli and toughness are readily tailored by varying the concentration of the pre-polymers, as well as the molecular weight of the PEG used to prepare the PEG-(PTMC-A) 2 . Two peptide sequences, GVOGEA and GGGGRGDS, are individually conjugated to the MCS to facilitate cell binding. The presence of the peptide ligands yields high ASC viability and long term metabolic activity following encapsulation in hydrogels prepared using the thermal initiator system.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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