Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10159132 | Acta Biomaterialia | 2014 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
The transplantation of cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), has numerous applications in the field of regenerative medicine. For cell transplantation strategies to be successful therapeutically, cellular localization and persistence must be controlled to maximize cell-mediated contributions to healing. Herein, we demonstrate that hydrolytic degradation of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels can be used to spatiotemporally control encapsulated MSC localization to decellularized bone allografts, both in vitro and in vivo. By altering the number of hydrolytically degradable lactide repeat units within PEG-d,l-lactide-methacrylate macromers, a series of hydrogels was synthesized that degraded over â¼1, 2 and 3 weeks. MSCs were encapsulated within these hydrogels formed around decellularized bone allografts, and non-invasive, longitudinal fluorescence imaging was used to track cell persistence both in vitro and in vivo. Spatiotemporal localization of MSCs to the exterior of bone allograft surfaces was similar to in vitro hydrogel degradation kinetics despite hydrogel mesh sizes being â¼2-3 orders of magnitude smaller than MSC size throughout the degradation process. Thus, localized, cell-mediated degradation and MSC migration from the hydrogels are suspected, particularly as â¼10% of the total transplanted MSC population was shown to persist in close proximity (within â¼650 μm) to grafts 7 weeks after complete hydrogel degradation. This work demonstrates the therapeutic utility of PEG-based hydrogels for controlling spatiotemporal cell transplantation for a myriad of regenerative medicine strategies.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Bioengineering
Authors
Michael D. Hoffman, Amy H. Van Hove, Danielle S.W. Benoit,