Decellularized cartilage as a chondroinductive material for cartilage tissue engineering

Cartilage defects, whether caused by osteoarthritis, joint trauma, or other disease, have provoked a wide variety of tissue engineering scaffold strategies in recent years. Traditionally, cartilage tissue engineering scaffolds have utilized synthetic polymer components to form hydrogels or other porous matrices. However, components found within the extracellular matrix (ECM) such as collagen, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and ECM-based matrices have emerged as an essential subset of biomaterials for tissue engineering scaffolds. The objective of this research was to develop and evaluate decellularized cartilage (DCC) as a chondroinductive material for cartilage tissue engineering applications. This work was successful in developing a decellularization method for hyaline cartilage fragments that removed 99% of cells, while retaining 87% of GAGs and also in determining a method to produce a homogenous nanopowder of DCC. Additionally, this research was the first to examine the ability of DCC to induce chondrogenesis in stem cells by quantifying gene expression of chondrogenic markers. The results demonstrate for the first time that DCC can indeed upregulate chondrogenic markers and may be a new chondroinductive material that can provide microenvironmental cues and signaling to promote stem cell differentiation in cartilage regeneration.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Renth, Amanda

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Friis, Elizabeth

• Biomedical engineering
• Cartilage tissue engineering
• Decellularized cartilage
• Raw materials

Statement dc:rights

• This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:13135

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/12991