Juri Artes

Master student

Engineering Alginate-Gelatin based Hydrogels with Tunable Properties for Cartilage Tissue Regeneration

 

Supervisors: Lisa Schöbel, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Despite steady improvements in global health over the last 30 years, the burden of some diseases, such as osteoarthritis (OA), is still increasing [1]. Conservative approaches for articular cartilage (AC) regeneration have some drawbacks, such as the formation of fibrous tissue with inferior mechanical properties compared to native tissue, highlighting the need for novel techniques [2]. One promising approach is cartilage tissue engineering (CTE), which employs naturally derived polysaccharide-based hydrogels that can mimic the in vivo condition of cartilage, influence the cell environment and show long-term safe interaction with living organisms [3]. Especially in CTE, where long in vitro cell culture times are required for tissue maturation, modifications of the hydrogel are necessary [4]. Therefore, in this study, oxidized alginate gelatine (ADA-GEL) hydrogels will be tailored to meet the required specifications for CTE. The resulting hydrogel formulations will be characterized in terms of mechanical properties, degradation behavior and cell-material interactions using cartilage-like cells.

[1] GBD 2019 Mental Disorders Collaborators et al. Global, regional, and national burden of 12 mental disorders in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019. The Lancet Psychiatry, 9(2):137–150, 2022.

[2] Shuangpeng Jiang, Weimin Guo, Guangzhao Tian, Xujiang Luo, Liqing Peng, Shuyun Liu, Xiang Sui, Quanyi Guo, and Xu Li. Clinical application status of articular cartilage regeneration techniques: tissue-engineered cartilage brings new hope. Stem cells international, 2020:5690252,2020. issn: 1687-966X. doi: 10.1155/2020/5690252.

[3] Jakob Naranda, Matej Bračič, Matjaž Vogrin, and Uroš Maver. Recent advancements in 3d printing of polysaccharide hydrogels in cartilage tissue engineering. Materials (Basel, Switzerland), 14(14), 2021. issn: 1996-1944. doi: 10.3390/ma14143977.

[4] Distler, Thomas; McDonald, Kilian; Heid, Susanne; Karakaya, Emine; Detsch, Rainer; Boccaccini, Aldo R. (2020): Ionically and Enzymatically Dual Cross-Linked Oxidized Alginate Gelatin Hydrogels with Tunable Stiffness and Degradation Behavior for Tissue Engineering. In: ACS biomaterials science & engineering 6 (7), S. 3899–3914. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00677.