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Construction of collagen II/hyaluronate/chondroitin-6-sulfate tri-copolymer scaffold for nucleus pulposus tissue engineering and preliminary analysis of its physico-chemical properties and biocompatibility

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Abstract

To construct a novel scaffold for nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue engineering, The porous type II collagen (CII)/hyaluronate (HyA)–chondroitin-6-sulfate (6-CS) scaffold was prepared using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) cross-linking system. The physico-chemical properties and biocompatibility of CII/HyA–CS scaffolds were evaluated. The results suggested CII/HyA–CS scaffolds have a highly porous structure (porosity: 94.8 ± 1.5%), high water-binding capacity (79.2 ± 2.8%) and significantly improved mechanical stability by EDC/NHS crosslinking (denaturation temperature: 74.6 ± 1.8 and 58.1 ± 2.6°C, respectively, for the crosslinked scaffolds and the non-crosslinked; collagenase degradation rate: 39.5 ± 3.4 and 63.5 ± 2.0%, respectively, for the crosslinked scaffolds and the non-crosslinked). The CII/HyA–CS scaffolds also showed satisfactory cytocompatibility and histocompatibility as well as low immunogenicity. These results indicate CII/HyA–CS scaffolds may be an alternative material for NP tissue engineering due to the similarity of its composition and physico-chemical properties to those of the extracellular matrices (ECM) of native NP.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30772186) and the Youth Science and Research Foundation of the Third Military Medical University (No. XG2005D127).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, People’s Republic of China

    Chang-qing Li, Bo Huang, Gang Luo, Chuan-zhi Zhang, Ying Zhuang & Yue Zhou

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  1. Chang-qing Li
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  2. Bo Huang
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  3. Gang Luo
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  4. Chuan-zhi Zhang
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Correspondence to Yue Zhou.

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Chang-qing Li and Bo Huang are co-first authors. Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Li, Cq., Huang, B., Luo, G. et al. Construction of collagen II/hyaluronate/chondroitin-6-sulfate tri-copolymer scaffold for nucleus pulposus tissue engineering and preliminary analysis of its physico-chemical properties and biocompatibility. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 21, 741–751 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-009-3871-5

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