Abstract
Cell-based tissue engineered tendons have potential to improve clinical outcomes following rotator cuff repair, especially in large or massive rotator cuff tears, which pose a great clinical challenge. The aim of this study was to develop a method of constructing a functional engineered tendon patch for rotator cuff repair with cyclic mechanical stimulation. Decellularized tendon slices (DTSs) were seeded with BMSCs and subjected to cyclic stretching for 1, 3, or 7 days. The mechanical properties, morphologic characteristics and tendon-related gene expression of the constructs were investigated. Viable BMSCs were observed on the DTS after 7 days. BMSCs penetrated into the DTSs and formed dense cell sheets after 7 days of mechanical stretching. Gene expression of type I collagen, decorin, and tenomodulin significantly increased in cyclically stretched BMSC-DTS constructs compared with the unstrained control group (P<0.05). The ultimate tensile strength and stiffness of the cyclically stretched tendon constructs were similar to the unstrained control group (P>0.05). In conclusion, mechanical stimulation of BMSC-DTS constructs upregulated expression of tendon-related proteins, promoted cell tenogenic differentiation, facilitated cell infiltration and formation of cell sheets, and retained mechanical properties. The patch could be used as a graft to enhance the surgical repair of rotator cuff tears.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 43-50 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Biomaterials |
Volume | 51 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2015 |
Keywords
- Bone marrow stromal cells
- Stretch
- Tendon slice
- Tissue engineering
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanics of Materials
- Ceramics and Composites
- Bioengineering
- Biophysics
- Biomaterials