Bioinspired and self-restorable alginate-tyramine hydrogels with plasma reinforcement for arthritis treatment

Yu-Ming Chen; Chin-Chean Wong; Pei-Wei Weng; Chih-Wei Chiang; Po-Yen Lin; Po-Wei Lee; Pei-Ru Jheng; Ping-Chien Hao; Yan-Ting Chen; Er-Chen Cho; Er-Yuan Chuang

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126105

Bioinspired and self-restorable alginate-tyramine hydrogels with plasma reinforcement for arthritis treatment

Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Oct 1:250:126105. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126105. Epub 2023 Aug 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Engineering, Graduate Institute of Nanomedicine and Medical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
² Department of Orthopedics, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City 23561, Taiwan; Department of Orthopedics, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; Research Center of Biomedical Devices, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; International Ph.D. Program for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
³ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Engineering, Graduate Institute of Nanomedicine and Medical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; Department of Orthopedics, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City 23561, Taiwan; Department of Orthopedics, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; Research Center of Biomedical Devices, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; International Ph.D. Program for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan.
⁴ Bone and Joint Research Center, Department of Orthopedics, Taipei Medical University Hospital, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁵ BioGend Therapeutics Co., New Taipei City 23561, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, International Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Engineering, Graduate Institute of Nanomedicine and Medical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 11031, Taiwan; Cell Physiology and Molecular Image Research Center, Taipei Medical University, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei 11696, Taiwan. Electronic address: eychuang@tmu.edu.tw.

PMID: 37549762
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126105

Abstract

Long-standing administration of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs confirms their clinical value for managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Nevertheless, there are emergent worries over unwanted adverse risks of systemic drug administration. Hence, a novel strategy that can be used in a drug-free manner while diminishing side effects is immediately needed, but challenges persist in the therapy for RA. To this end, herein we conjugated tyramine (TYR) with alginate (ALG) to form ALG-TYR and then treated it for 5 min with oxygen plasma (ALG-TYR + P/5 min). It was shown that the ALG-TYR + P/5 min hydrogel exhibited favorable viscoelastic, morphological, mechanical, biocompatible, and cellular heat-shock protein amplification behaviors. A thorough physical and structural analysis was conducted on the ALG-TYR + P/5 min hydrogel, revealing favorable physical characteristics and uniform porous structural features within the hydrogel. Moreover, ALG-TYR + P/5 min not only effectively inhibited inflammation of RA but also potentially regulated lesion immunity. Once ALG-TYR + P/5 min was intra-articularly administered to joints of rats with zymosan-induced arthritis, we observed that ALG-TYR + P/5 min could ameliorate syndromes of RA joint. This bioinspired and self-restorable ALG-TYR + P/5 min hydrogel can thus serve as a promising system to provide prospective outcomes to potentiate RA therapy.

Keywords: Arthritis treatment; Immunomodulation; Self-restorable alginate-tyramine hydrogel.