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National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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Publication Detail

Title: Degradable hydrogels for spatiotemporal control of mesenchymal stem cells localized at decellularized bone allografts.

Authors: Hoffman, Michael D; Van Hove, Amy H; Benoit, Danielle S W

Published In Acta Biomater, (2014 Aug)

Abstract: The transplantation of cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), has numerous applications in the field of regenerative medicine. For cell transplantation strategies to be successful therapeutically, cellular localization and persistence must be controlled to maximize cell-mediated contributions to healing. Herein, we demonstrate that hydrolytic degradation of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels can be used to spatiotemporally control encapsulated MSC localization to decellularized bone allografts, both in vitro and in vivo. By altering the number of hydrolytically degradable lactide repeat units within PEG-d,l-lactide-methacrylate macromers, a series of hydrogels was synthesized that degraded over ∼1, 2 and 3weeks. MSCs were encapsulated within these hydrogels formed around decellularized bone allografts, and non-invasive, longitudinal fluorescence imaging was used to track cell persistence both in vitro and in vivo. Spatiotemporal localization of MSCs to the exterior of bone allograft surfaces was similar to in vitro hydrogel degradation kinetics despite hydrogel mesh sizes being ∼2-3 orders of magnitude smaller than MSC size throughout the degradation process. Thus, localized, cell-mediated degradation and MSC migration from the hydrogels are suspected, particularly as ∼10% of the total transplanted MSC population was shown to persist in close proximity (within ∼650μm) to grafts 7weeks after complete hydrogel degradation. This work demonstrates the therapeutic utility of PEG-based hydrogels for controlling spatiotemporal cell transplantation for a myriad of regenerative medicine strategies.

PubMed ID: 24751534 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Absorbable Implants*; Allografts; Animals; Biocompatible Materials/chemical synthesis; Bone Transplantation/instrumentation*; Bone Transplantation/methods; Cell-Free System/chemistry; Equipment Failure Analysis; Femoral Fractures/pathology; Femoral Fractures/therapy*; Hydrogels/chemistry*; Materials Testing; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation/instrumentation*; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation/methods; Mesenchymal Stem Cells/pathology*; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Prosthesis Design; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; Tissue Engineering/instrumentation; Tissue Engineering/methods; Tissue Scaffolds; Treatment Outcome

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