Hydrazone crosslinked hyaluronan-based hydrogels for therapeutic delivery of adipose stem cells to treat corneal defects

Publication date: 1 April 2018 Source:Materials Science and Engineering: C, Volume 85 Author(s): Laura Koivusalo, Jennika Karvinen, Eetu Sorsa, Ilari Jönkkäri, Jari Väliaho, Pasi Kallio, Tanja Ilmarinen, Susanna Miettinen, Heli Skottman, Minna Kellomäki Corneal blindness is a worldwide problem, plagued by insufficient amount of high-quality donor tissue. Cell therapy using human adipose stem cells (hASCs) has risen as an alternative to regenerate damaged corneal stromal tissue, the main structural and refractive layer of the cornea. Herein we propose a method to deliver hASCs into corneal defects in hyaluronan (HA)-based hydrogels, which form rapidly in situ by hydrazone crosslinking. We fabricated two different HA-based hydrazone-crosslinked hydrogels (HALD1-HACDH and HALD2-HAADH), and characterized their swelling, degradation, mechanical, rheological and optical properties and their ability to support hASC survival. To promote hASC attachment and survival, we incorporated collagen I (col I) to the more stable HALD1-HACDH hydrogel, since the HALD2-HAADH hydrogel suffered swift degradation in culture conditions. We then used an organ culture model with excised porcine corneas to study the delivery of hASCs in these three hydrogels for stromal defect repair. Although all hydrogels showed good hASC survival directly after encapsulation, only the collagen-containing HALD1-HACDH-col I hydrogel showed cells with elongated morphology, and significantly higher cell m...
Source: Materials Science and Engineering: C - Category: Materials Science Source Type: research