연골재생을 위한 히알루론산-알긴산 하이브리드 하이드로젤의 기계적 성질 제어

Abstract

Hydrogels have been widely utilized as a synthetic extracellular matrix in tissue engineering applications, including cartilage regeneration. A particularly critical factor in the design of tissue engineering scaffolds is a control of the mechanical properties of the scaffolds. In this thesis, hyaluronate-alginate hybrid hydrogel (HAH) was synthesized by introducing alginate to the hyaluronate backbone with various molecular weights, and HAH hydrogels were prepared by physically cross-linking in the presence of calcium ions without additional chemical cross-linking agents. The mechanical stiffness of HAH hydrogels was regulated by varying the molecular weight of hyaluronate in the hybrid. HAH hydrogels were modified with an arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) peptide to enhance cell-matrix interaction and also with a histidine-alanine-valine (HAV) peptide to increase cell-cell interaction, as controlling cell-cell interaction and cell-matrix interaction is a key factor for regulating cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation in tissue engineering. Chondrogenic differentiation of chondrocytes cultured within hybrid hydrogels was influenced by the mechanical stiffness of the gels. Chondrogenic differentiation of ATDC5 cells increased as the mechanical stiffness of HAH hydrogels increased in vitro. This hybrid was also useful for the delivery of primary chondrocytes into the body for cartilage regeneration in a mouse model.