1. Incorporation of fibrin into a collagen-glycosaminoglycan matrix results in a scaffold with improved mechanical properties and enhanced capacity to resist cell-mediated contraction
- Author
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Tanya J. Levingstone, Stefan Jockenhoevel, Fergal J. O'Brien, Thomas C. Flanagan, Claire Brougham, This study has received funding from the Irish Heart Foundation (Grant number 1045940), the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under European Research Council grant agreement n° 239685 and the School of Mechanical and Design Engineering, DIT, Allison Cudsworth, and FOCUS Institute, DIT for SEM work
- Subjects
Scaffold ,Materials science ,Compressive Strength ,Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ,Biomedical Engineering ,Matrix (biology) ,Biochemistry ,Fibrin ,Cell Line ,Tissue engineering ,Cardiovascular scaffold ,Heart valve ,Biomaterials ,Extracellular matrix ,Glycosaminoglycan ,Structural Biology ,Biomimetic Materials ,Elastic Modulus ,Tensile Strength ,Ultimate tensile strength ,Materials Testing ,Humans ,Molecular Biology ,Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering ,Cells, Cultured ,Glycosaminoglycans ,biology ,Tissue Engineering ,Tissue Scaffolds ,Regeneration (biology) ,Biology and Biomimetic Materials ,General Medicine ,Equipment Design ,Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering ,Extracellular Matrix ,Equipment Failure Analysis ,biology.protein ,Collagen ,Stress, Mechanical ,Biotechnology ,Biomedical engineering ,Muscle Contraction - Abstract
Fibrin has many uses as a tissue engineering scaffold, however many in vivo studies have shown a reduction in function resulting from the susceptibility of fibrin to cell-mediated contraction. The overall aim of the present study was to develop and characterise a reinforced natural scaffold using fibrin, collagen and glycosaminoglycan (FCG), and to examine the cell-mediated contraction of this scaffold in comparison to fibrin gels. Through the use of an injection loading technique, a homogenous FCG scaffold was developed. Mechanical testing showed a sixfold increase in compressive modulus and a thirtyfold increase in tensile modulus of fibrin when reinforced with a collagen–glycosaminoglycan backbone structure. Human vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) were successfully incorporated into the FCG scaffold and demonstrated excellent viability over 7 days, while proliferation of these cells also increased significantly. VSMCs were seeded into both FCG and fibrin-only gels at the same seeding density for 7 days and while FCG scaffolds did not demonstrate a reduction in size, fibrin-only gels contracted to 10% of their original diameter. The FCG scaffold, which is composed of natural biomaterials, shows potential for use in applications where dimensional stability is crucial to the functionality of the tissue. Statement of Significance Fibrin is a versatile scaffold for tissue engineering applications, but its weak mechanical properties leave it susceptible to cell-mediated contraction, meaning the dimensions of the fibrin construct will change over time. We have reinforced fibrin with a collagen glycosaminoglycan matrix and characterised the mechanical properties and bioactivity of the reinforced fibrin (FCG). This is the first scaffold manufactured from all naturally derived materials that resists cell-mediated contraction. In fact, over 7 days, the FCG scaffold fully resisted cell-mediated contraction of vascular smooth muscle cells. This FCG scaffold has many potential applications where natural scaffold materials can encourage regeneration.
- Published
- 2015