Design and characterization of an aligned collagen-GAG scaffold-membrane composite with soluble factor presentation for tendon tissue engineering
type: CreativeWork
description: With over 32 million tendon and ligament injuries in the US each year with associated costs of $30 billion, the need for viable tendon repair strategies is becoming increasingly important. Current surgical and tissue engineering approaches have had limited success; repeat injuries and generally poor clinical outcomes are common with failure rates as high as 94%. This thesis discusses the development of collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) biomaterial scaffolds for tendon tissue engineering. Key elements incorporated into the design of these biomaterials include an aligned microstructure to mimic healthy tendon, integration of therapeutic biomolecules to increase tendon cell migration and metabolic activity, and enhancement of construct mechanical competence through the addition of a novel CG membrane shell. CG scaffolds have been utilized to regenerate a variety of tissues, including dermis, peripheral nerves, conjunctiva, and cartilage. These materials have numerous advantages as tissue engineering scaffolds, including high porosity (> 95%) and an abundance of native ligands for cells to attach onto. CG scaffolds are manufactured by freeze-drying a suspension of collagen and glycosaminoglycan co-precipitate. The freezing step results in an interpenetrating network of ice crystals surrounded by CG content; sublimation leaves behind a scaffold with interconnected pores. This thesis describes the development of specialized freeze-drying techniques that utilize unidirectional heat transfer to produce scaffolds with aligned pores that mimic the native microstructure of tendon. Modulation of the final freezing temperature enables fabrication of a series of aligned CG scaffolds with constant relative density but a wide range of pore sizes (55-243 μm). The addition of chemotactic growth factors to aligned CG scaffolds is also shown to enhance tendon cell migration, viability, and metabolic activity. This thesis also details the creation of CG scaffold-membrane core-shell compos…
abstract: With over 32 million tendon and ligament injuries in the US each year with associated costs of $30 billion, the need for viable tendon repair strategies is becoming increasingly important. Current surgical and tissue engineering approaches have had limited success; repeat injuries and generally poor clinical outcomes are common with failure rates as high as 94%. This thesis discusses the development of collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) biomaterial scaffolds for tendon tissue engineering. Key elements incorporated into the design of these biomaterials include an aligned microstructure to mimic healthy tendon, integration of therapeutic biomolecules to increase tendon cell migration and metabolic activity, and enhancement of construct mechanical competence through the addition of a novel CG membrane shell. CG scaffolds have been utilized to regenerate a variety of tissues, including dermis, peripheral nerves, conjunctiva, and cartilage. These materials have numerous advantages as tissue engineering scaffolds, including high porosity (> 95%) and an abundance of native ligands for cells to attach onto. CG scaffolds are manufactured by freeze-drying a suspension of collagen and glycosaminoglycan co-precipitate. The freezing step results in an interpenetrating network of ice crystals surrounded by CG content; sublimation leaves behind a scaffold with interconnected pores. This thesis describes the development of specialized freeze-drying techniques that utilize unidirectional heat transfer to produce scaffolds with aligned pores that mimic the native microstructure of tendon. Modulation of the final freezing temperature enables fabrication of a series of aligned CG scaffolds with constant relative density but a wide range of pore sizes (55-243 μm). The addition of chemotactic growth factors to aligned CG scaffolds is also shown to enhance tendon cell migration, viability, and metabolic activity. This thesis also details the creation of CG scaffold-membrane core-shell compos…
author: Caliari, Steven R.
language: en
keywords: tendon, tissue engineering, collagen, scaffold, growth factors, chemotaxis, membrane, core-shell composite
date published: 2011-01-14T22:47:02Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:11Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/18346