Freeze-casting osteochondral scaffolds: The presence of a nutrient-permeable film between the bone and cartilage defect reduces cartilage regeneration

Jia Chen; Yawu Li; Shuaibing Liu; Yingying Du; Shengmin Zhang; Jianglin Wang

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2022.09.069

Freeze-casting osteochondral scaffolds: The presence of a nutrient-permeable film between the bone and cartilage defect reduces cartilage regeneration

Acta Biomater. 2022 Dec:154:168-179. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2022.09.069. Epub 2022 Oct 6.

Authors

Jia Chen¹, Yawu Li¹, Shuaibing Liu¹, Yingying Du², Shengmin Zhang³, Jianglin Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; NMPA Research Base of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Institute of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen 518000, China.
² Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; NMPA Research Base of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Institute of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: yingyingdu@hust.edu.cn.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; NMPA Research Base of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Institute of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; NMPA Research Base of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Institute of Regulatory Science for Medical Devices, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; Shenzhen Huazhong University of Science and Technology Research Institute, Shenzhen 518000, China. Electronic address: jwang520@hust.edu.cn.

PMID: 36210044
DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2022.09.069

Abstract

Microfracture treatment that is basically relied on stem cells and growth factors in bone marrow has achieved a certain progress for cartilage repair in clinic. Nevertheless, the neocartilage generated from the microfracture strategy is limited endogenous regeneration and prone to fibrosis due to the influences of cell inflammation and vascular infiltration. To explore the crucial factor for articular cartilage remodeling, here we design a trilaminar osteochondral scaffold with a selective permeable film in middle isolation layer which can prevent stem cells, immune cells, and blood vessels in the bone marrow from invading into the cartilage layer, but allow the nutrients and cytokines to penetrate. Our findings show that the trilaminar scaffold exhibits a good biocompatibility and inflammatory regulation, but the osteochondral repair is far less effective than the control of double-layer scaffold without isolation layer. These results demonstrate that it is not adequate to rely only on nutrients and cytokines to promote reconstruction of articular cartilage, and the various cells in bone marrow are indispensable. Consequently, the current study illustrates that cell infiltration involving stem cells, immune cells and other cells from bone marrow plays a crucial role in articular cartilage remodeling based on the integrated scaffold strategy. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Clinical microfracture treatment plays a certain role on the restoration of injured cartilage, but the regenerative cartilage is prone to be fibrocartilage due to the modulation of bone marrow cells. Herein, we design a trilaminar osteochondral scaffold with a selective permeable film in middle isolation layer. This specific film made of dense electrospun nanofiber can prevent bone marrow cells from invading into the cartilage layer, but allow the nutrients and cytokines to penetrate. Our conclusion is that the cartilage remodeling will be extremely inhibited when the bone marrow cells are blocking. Owing to the diverse cells in bone marrow, we will further explore the influence of each cell type on cartilage repair in our continuous future work.

Keywords: Freeze-casting; Integrated scaffold; Isolation layer; Osteochondral repair; Silk fibroin.

MeSH terms

Bone Marrow Cells
Bone and Bones
Cartilage, Articular*
Tissue Engineering / methods
Tissue Scaffolds*