High-Strength Fiber-Reinforced Composite Hydrogel Scaffolds as Biosynthetic Tendon Graft Material

Young Jung No; Solaiman Tarafder; Barbara Reischl; Yogambha Ramaswamy; Colin Dunstan; Oliver Friedrich; Chang Hun Lee; Hala Zreiqat

doi:10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01716

High-Strength Fiber-Reinforced Composite Hydrogel Scaffolds as Biosynthetic Tendon Graft Material

ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2020 Apr 13;6(4):1887-1898. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01716. Epub 2020 Apr 1.

Authors

Young Jung No^{1

2}, Solaiman Tarafder³, Barbara Reischl⁴, Yogambha Ramaswamy^{1

2}, Colin Dunstan^{1

2}, Oliver Friedrich⁴, Chang Hun Lee³, Hala Zreiqat^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Research Unit, School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia.
² Australian Research Council Training Centre for Innovative BioEngineering, Sydney 2006, Australia.
³ Regenerative Engineering Laboratory, Columbia University, New York 10032, New York, United States.
⁴ Institute of Medical Biotechnology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen 91052, Germany.

PMID: 33455306
DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01716

Abstract

The development of suitable synthetic scaffolds for use as human tendon grafts to repair tendon ruptures remains a significant engineering challenge. Previous synthetic tendon grafts have demonstrated suboptimal tissue ingrowth and synovitis due to wear particles from fiber-to-fiber abrasion. In this study, we present a novel fiber-reinforced hydrogel (FRH) that mimics the hierarchical structure of the native human tendon for synthetic tendon graft material. Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers were impregnated with either biosynthetic polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin hydrogel (FRH-PG) or with polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin + strontium-hardystonite (Sr-Ca₂ZnSi₂O₇, Sr-HT) composite hydrogel (FRH-PGS). The scaffolds were fabricated and assessed to evaluate their suitability for tendon graft applications. The microstructure of both FRH-PG and FRH-PGS showed successful impregnation of the hydrogel component, and the tendon scaffolds exhibited equilibrium water content of ∼70 wt %, similar to the values reported for native human tendon, compared to ∼50 wt % water content retained in unmodified UHMWPE fibers. The tensile strength of FRH-PG and FRH-PGS (77.0-81.8 MPa) matched the range of human Achilles' tendon tensile strengths reported in the literature. In vitro culture of rat tendon stem cells showed cell and tissue infiltration into both FRH-PG and FRH-PGS after 2 weeks, and the presence of Sr-HT ceramic particles influenced the expression of tenogenic markers. On the other hand, FRH-PG supported the proliferation of murine C2C12 myoblasts, whereas FRH-PGS seemingly did not support it under static culture conditions. In vivo implantation of FRH-PG and FRH-PGS scaffolds into full-thickness rat patellar tendon defects showed good collagenous tissue ingrowth into these scaffolds after 6 weeks. This study demonstrates the potential viability for our FRH-PG and FRH-PGS scaffolds to be used for off-the-shelf biosynthetic tendon graft material.

Keywords: PVA hydrogel; UHMWPE; bioactive ceramic; fiber-reinforced hydrogel; synthetic tendon; tendon graft.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Hydrogels*
Mice
Rats
Stem Cells
Tensile Strength
Tissue Engineering
Tissue Scaffolds*

Substances

Hydrogels

Grants and funding

R01 AR071316/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/United States