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Published on: August 16, 2014
Electrospun thymosin Beta-4 loaded PLGA/PLA nanofiber/ microfiber hybrid yarns for tendon tissue engineering
Shaohua Wu1, Rong Zhou2, Fang Zhou3
1Mary & Dick Holland Regenerative Medicine Program, Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; College of Textiles & Clothing, Collaborative Innovation Center of Marine Biomass Fibers, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
Abstract:
Microfiber yarns (MY) have been widely employed to construct tendon tissue grafts. However, suboptimal ultrastructure and inappropriate environments for cell interactions limit their clinical application. Herein, we designed a modified electrospinning device to coat poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) PLGA nanofibers onto polylactic acid (PLA) MY to generate PLGA/PLA hybrid yarns (HY), which had a well-aligned nanofibrous structure, resembling the ultrastructure of native tendon tissues and showed enhanced failure load compared to PLA MY. PLGA/PLA HY significantly improved the growth, proliferation, and tendon-specific gene expressions of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (HADMSC) compared to PLA MY. Moreover, thymosin beta-4 (Tβ4) loaded PLGA/PLA HY presented a sustained drug release manner for 28 days and showed an additive effect on promoting HADMSC migration, proliferation, and tenogenic differentiation. Collectively, the combination of Tβ4 with the nano-topography of PLGA/PLA HY might be an efficient strategy to promote tenogenesis of adult stem cells for tendon tissue engineering.
