Three-dimensional hydrogel with human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells towards nucleus pulposus niche

Isma Liza Mohd Isa; Izzat Zulkiflee; Raed H Ogaili; Nurul Huda Mohd Yusoff; Natasya Nadia Sahruddin; Shaiful Ridzwan Sapri; Elvy Suhana Mohd Ramli; Mh Busra Fauzi; Sabarul Afian Mokhtar

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2023.1296531

Three-dimensional hydrogel with human Wharton jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells towards nucleus pulposus niche

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Dec 12:11:1296531. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1296531. eCollection 2023.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² CÚRAM, SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
³ School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
⁴ Centre for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

Introduction: A regenerative strategy employing extracellular matrix (ECM)-based biomaterials and stem cells provide a better approach to mimicking the three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment of intervertebral disc for endogenous tissue regeneration. However, there is currently limited understanding regarding the human Wharton Jelly derived-mesenchymal stem cells (hWJ-MSCs) towards nucleus pulposus (NP)-like cells. Our study focused on the development of 3D bioengineered hydrogel based on the predominant ECM of native NP, including type II collagen (COLII) and hyaluronic acid (HA), which aims to tailor the needs of the microenvironment in NP. Methods: We have fabricated a 3D hydrogel using from COLII enriched with HA by varying the biomacromolecule concentration and characterised it for degradation, stability and swelling properties. The WJ-MSC was then encapsulated in the hydrogel system to guide the cell differentiation into NP-like cells. Results: We successfully fabricated COLII hydrogel (2 mg/ml) and HA 10 mg/ml at a weight ratio of HA and COLII at 1:9 and 4.5:9, and both hydrogels physically maintained their 3D sphere-shaped structure after complete gelation. The higher composition of HA in the hydrogel system indicated a higher water intake capacity in the hydrogel with a higher amount of HA. All hydrogels showed over 60% hydrolytic stability over a month. The hydrogel showed an increase in degradation on day 14. The hWJ-MSCs encapsulated in hydrogel showed a round morphology shape that was homogenously distributed within the hydrogel of both groups. The viability study indicated a higher cell growth of hWJ-MSCs encapsulated in all hydrogel groups until day 14. Discussion: Overall, our findings demonstrate that HA/COLII hydrogel provides an optimal swelling capacity, stability, degradability, and non-cytotoxic, thus mimics the NP microenvironment in guiding hWJ-MSCs towards NP phenotype, which is potentially used as an advanced cell delivery system for intervertebral disc regeneration.

Keywords: Wharton jelly mesenchymal stem cells; hydrogel; intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration; low back pain; nucleus pulposus.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. We would like to thank funding support from the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education for the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Grant No. FRGS/1/2022/SKK10/UKM/02/12), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia under the Geran Galakan Penyelidik Muda (Grant No. GGPM-2022-029), Health Research Board, Ireland, under the Emerging Investigator Award for Health 2022 (Grant No. EIA-2022-010), and AO Spine, Switzerland, for the First Prize, Young Researcher Award (Grant No. FF-2022-052).