Crosslinkable hydrogels derived from cartilage, meniscus, and tendon tissue

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Decellularized tissues offer versatile matrices for tissue and organ engineering.
• Hydrogels are preferred cell carriers for cartilage repair.
• Limited exploration exists for decellularized tissues in cartilage engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generate cross-linkable hydrogels from decellularized equine cartilage, meniscus, and tendon.
• To investigate the impact of these tissue-derived hydrogels on chondrocytes and mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) for cartilage repair.

Main Methods:

• Equine tissues were decellularized, digested, and functionalized with methacrylamide groups.
• Tissue digests were photo-cross-linked into hydrogels and mechanically characterized.
• Gelatin methacrylamide (GelMA) hydrogels were functionalized with tissue digests, and cells were encapsulated and cultured for 6 weeks.

Main Results:

• Successfully created photo-cross-linkable hydrogels from equine cartilage, meniscus, and tendon digests.
• Tissue-derived matrices influenced chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs without significant improvement.
• Chondrocyte performance in tissue-derived matrix gels was inferior to GelMA alone.

Conclusions:

• Native tissues can be processed into stable, cross-linkable hydrogels for tissue engineering applications.
• Decellularized matrix hydrogels can influence encapsulated cell differentiation.
• Further research is needed to optimize these matrices for enhanced cartilage repair.