Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
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Chondroitinase ABC treatment improves the organization and mechanics of 3D bioprinted meniscal tissue

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posted on 2023-06-29, 13:01 authored by Xavier Barceló, Orquidea Garcia, Daniel KellyDaniel Kelly

The meniscus is a fibrocartilage tissue that is integral to the correct functioning of the knee joint. The tissue possesses a unique collagen fiber architecture that is integral to its biomechanical functionality. In particular, a network of circumferentially aligned collagen fibers function to bear the high tensile forces generated in the tissue during normal daily activities. The limited regenerative capacity of the meniscus has motivated increased interest in meniscus tissue engineering; however, the in vitro generation of structurally organized meniscal grafts with a collagen architecture mimetic of the native meniscus remains a significant challenge. Here we used melt electrowriting (MEW) to produce scaffolds with defined pore architectures to impose physical boundaries upon cell growth and extracellular matrix production. This enabled the bioprinting of anisotropic tissues with collagen fibers preferentially oriented parallel to the long axis of the scaffold pores. Furthermore, temporally removing glycosaminoglycans (sGAGs) during the early stages of in vitro tissue development using chondroitinase ABC (cABC) was found to positively impact collagen network maturation. Specially we found that temporal depletion of sGAGs is associated with an increase in collagen fiber diameter without any detrimental effect on the development of a meniscal tissue phenotype or subsequent extracellular matrix production. Moreover, temporal cABC treatment supported the development of engineered tissues with superior tensile mechanical properties compared to empty MEW scaffolds. These findings demonstrate the benefit of temporal enzymatic treatments when engineering structurally anisotropic tissues using emerging biofabrication technologies such as MEW and inkjet bioprinting. 

Funding

Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under grant number 12/ RC/2278 and 17/SP/4721

European Regional Development Fund

SFI under Ireland’s European Structural and Investment Fund

Johnson & Johnson 3D Printing Innovation & Customer Solutions, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc.

History

Comments

The original article is available at https://pubs.acs.org/

Published Citation

Barceló X, Garcia O, Kelly DJ. Chondroitinase ABC treatment improves the organization and mechanics of 3D bioprinted meniscal tissue. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2023;9(6):3488-3495.

Publication Date

16 May 2023

PubMed ID

37192278

Department/Unit

  • Amber (Advanced Material & Bioengineering Research) Centre
  • Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)