Electrospinning Device: Injectable ultrasound-induced silk hydrogel promotes cartilage repair and regeneration

Background

Professor Fan Weimin's team developed a one-step ultrasonic crushing method to prepare US-SF hydrogels. This method is simple and efficient, avoiding the complexity and toxicity of traditional methods. The pores of one-step US-SF hydrogels are more uniform, while the pore sizes of two-step US-SF hydrogels are inconsistent. This uniform pore structure is conducive to the infiltration and growth of cells, providing a good microenvironment for the regeneration of cartilage tissue.

Cytocompatibility and biocompatibility of US-SF hydrogels

Through rabbit chondrocytes, Cell Counting Kit-8 detection and immunofluorescence staining evaluation, one-step US-SF hydrogels showed good cytocompatibility, especially the 50% AMPL group, whose cell activity was significantly higher than that of other groups. In addition, in vivo experiments also confirmed that US-SF hydrogels have good biocompatibility, and no obvious inflammatory response was observed after implantation.

Application effect of US-SF hydrogels in cartilage regeneration

In the subcutaneous injection of nude mice and in situ injection experiments of rabbit osteochondral defect models, US-SF hydrogels showed significant cartilage regeneration ability. Biochemical analysis showed that the total collagen and sGAG content in the cartilage-like tissue of the 50% AMPL group was significantly higher than that of the low AMPL group. The histological scoring results also showed that the score of the 50% AMPL US-SF hydrogel group was significantly higher than that of the other groups. These results fully demonstrated the effectiveness of US-SF hydrogel in promoting cartilage defect repair.

Application of electrospinning equipment in the preparation of silk fibroin materials

Electrospinning technology can prepare silk fibroin nanofibers with specific structures and properties. These fibers can be used to construct more sophisticated scaffold structures and further optimize the performance of US-SF hydrogels. For example, silk fibroin nanofibers prepared by electrospinning technology can be composited with US-SF hydrogels to form composite materials with better mechanical properties and biocompatibility, providing a more ideal scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering.

Conclusion and Prospect

The research of Professor Fan Weimin's team provides a new strategy for cartilage tissue engineering, that is, using US-SF hydrogel prepared by one-step ultrasound induction as a scaffold material. Its good physical and chemical properties, biocompatibility and cartilage regeneration ability make it a potential cartilage repair and regeneration solution. Future research can further explore the combination of electrospinning technology and US-SF hydrogel to develop cartilage repair materials with better performance and promote the development of cartilage tissue engineering.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Article Source:

https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tea.2020.0323