Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 1, 2026
Establishment and Evaluation of a Sheep Model of Full-thickness Osteochondral Defect
Published on: April 14, 2026
A novel, visible light-induced, rapidly cross-linkable gelatin scaffold for osteochondral tissue engineering
Tetsuro Mazaki1, Yasuyuki Shiozaki1, Kentaro Yamane1
11] Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medical, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata, Okayama 700-8558, Japan [2] Department of Pathology and Experimental Medicine, Graduate School of Medical, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, 2-5-1 Shikata, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Abstract:
Osteochondral injuries remain difficult to repair. We developed a novel photo-cross-linkable furfurylamine-conjugated gelatin (gelatin-FA). Gelatin-FA was rapidly cross-linked by visible light with Rose Bengal, a light sensitizer, and was kept gelled for 3 weeks submerged in saline at 37°C. When bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BMSCs) were suspended in gelatin-FA with 0.05% Rose Bengal, approximately 87% of the cells were viable in the hydrogel at 24 h after photo-cross-linking, and the chondrogenic differentiation of BMSCs was maintained for up to 3 weeks. BMP4 fusion protein with a collagen binding domain (CBD) was retained in the hydrogels at higher levels than unmodified BMP4. Gelatin-FA was subsequently employed as a scaffold for BMSCs and CBD-BMP4 in a rabbit osteochondral defect model. In both cases, the defect was repaired with articular cartilage-like tissue and regenerated subchondral bone. This novel, photo-cross-linkable gelatin appears to be a promising scaffold for the treatment of osteochondral injury.
