Biodegradable CSMA/PECA/Graphene Porous Hybrid Scaffold for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Owing to the limited repair capacity of articular cartilage, it is essential to develop tissue-engineered cartilage for patients suffering from joint disease and trauma. Herein, we prepared a novel hybrid scaffold composed of methacrylated chondroitin sulfate (CSMA), poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether-ε-caprolactone-acryloyl chloride (MPEG-PCL-AC, PECA was used as abbreviation for MPEG-PCL-AC) and graphene oxide (GO) and evaluated its potential application in cartilage tissue engineering. To mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of cartilage, the scaffold had an adequate pore size, porosity, swelling ability, compression modulus and conductivity. Cartilage cells contacted with the scaffold remained viable and showed growth potential. Furthermore, CSMA/PECA/GO scaffold was biocompatible and had a favorable degradation rate. In the cartilage tissue repair of rabbit, Micro-CT and histology observation showed the group of CSMA/PECA/GO scaffold with cellular supplementation had better chondrocyte morphology, integration, continuous subchondral bone, and much thicker newly formed cartilage compared with scaffold group and control group. Our results show that the CSMA/PECA/GO hybrid porous scaffold can be applied in articular cartilage tissue engineering and may have great potential to in other types of tissue engineering applications.