• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.517-523
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• 2008

A RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) conjugated chitosan hydrogel was used as a cell-supporting scaffold for articular cartilage regeneration. Thermosensitive chitosan-Pluronic (CP) has potential biomedical applications on account of its biocompatibility and injectability. A RGD-conjugated CP (RGD-CP) copolymer was prepared by coupling the carboxyl group in the peptide with the residual amine group in the CP copolymer. The chemical structure of RGD-CP was characterized by $^1H$ NMR and FT IR. The concentration of conjugated RGD was quantified by amino acid analysis (AAA) and rheology of the RGD-CP hydrogel was investigated. The amount of bound RGD was $0.135{\mu}g$ per 1 mg of CP copolymer. The viscoelastic parameters of RGD-CP hydrogel showed thermo-sensitivity and suitable mechanical strength at body temperature for cell scaffolds (a> 100 kPa storage modulus). The viability of the bovine chondrocyte and the amount of synthesized glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) on the RGD-CP hydrogels were evaluated together with the alginate hydrogels as a control over a 14 day period. Both results showed that the RGD-CP hydrogel was superior to the alginate hydrogel. These results show that conjugating RGD to CP hydro gels improves cell viability and proliferation, including extra cellular matrix (ECM) expression. Therefore, RGD conjugated CP hydrogels are quite suitable for a chondrocyte culture and have potential applications to the tissue engineering of articular cartilage tissue.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.512-519
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of a novel tissue engineering approach to regenerate intervertebral disc. In this study, thermosensitive scaffold (chitosan-Pluronic hydrogel) and nanofiber were used to replace the nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus of a degenerated intervertebral disc, leading to an eventual regeneration of the disc using the minimally invasive surgical procedure and organ culture. In preliminary study, disc cells were seeded into the scaffolds and cellular responses were assessed by MTT assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on these results, we could know that tissue engineered scaffolds might provide favorable environments for the regeneration of tissues. Organ culture was performed in fresh porcine spinal motion segments with endplates on both sides. These spinal motion segments were classified into three groups: control (Intact), injured NP (Defect), and inserting tissue engineered scaffolds (Insert). The specimens were cultivated for 7 days, subsequently structural stability, cell proliferation and morphological changes were evaluated by the relaxation time, quantity of DNA, GAG and histological examination. In these results, inserting group showed higher relaxation time, reduced decrement of DNA contents, and accumulated GAG amount. Consequently, the tissue engineered scaffolds used in this study seen to be a promising base scaffolds for regenerative intervertebral disc due to its capacity to absorb external dynamic loading and the possible ideal environment provided for disc cell growing.