Bioactivated protein-based porous microcarriers for tissue engineering applications.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Microcarriers are crucial for cell attachment in tissue engineering.
• Ovalbumin (OVA), an inexpensive avian protein, has potential but limited research for microcarrier applications.
• Extracellular matrix (ECM) enhances cell-material interactions but requires efficient sourcing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate porous ovalbumin (OVA) microcarriers and investigate the impact of OVA-alginate ratios.
• To conjugate human lipoaspirate-derived extracellular matrix (LpECM) onto OVA microcarriers to improve bioactivity.
• To explore a waste-to-resource strategy for obtaining ECM material for biomaterial functionalization.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of porous OVA microcarriers with varying OVA-to-alginate ratios.
• Isolation of ECM from human lipoaspirate via physical decellularization.
• Conjugation of LpECM to OVA microcarriers using carbodiimide chemistry.

Main Results:

• Optimized OVA-alginate ratios yielded porous microcarriers with specific properties.
• Lipoaspirate-derived ECM (LpECM) was successfully obtained and conjugated.
• The resulting OVA-LpECM hybrid microcarriers exhibited enhanced mechanical strength and promoted cellular growth.

Conclusions:

• Porous OVA microcarriers can be successfully fabricated and functionalized with LpECM.
• LpECM coating confers bioactivity, improving mechanical properties and cell proliferation.
• These bioactivated OVA-LpECM microcarriers offer a promising platform for tissue engineering.