Determination of the Effect of Glycosaminoglycan Mimetic Peptide Hydrogels on Cell Viability for Cartilage Tissue Engineering Applications

Cartilage is a tissue type that doesn’t have blood vessels, neural networks and lymphatic vessels. Regeneration of the cartilage tissue is limited due to the small number of cells in the articular cartilage, low vascularization and low cell migration to the damage site. Biomaterial scaffolds are used for regeneration of cartilage since the cartilage needs structural and metabolic support in case of any damage. Mimicking the network structure of the natural cartilage is extremely important and hydrogels are good candidates for cartilage tissue engineering due to 3-D structure and the high-water holding capacity similar to the natural tissue. Also, biomimetic self-assembling peptides (SAP) can self-assemble with physiological conditions and form SAP hydrogels. Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) is crucial components of natural cartilage matrix, they are negatively charged chains, and they maintain the mechanical properties of tissue. In this study, it was develop GAG mimetic SAP hydrogels that can mimic original cartilage, and to determine the effect of these peptide hydrogels on cell viability and cell proliferation. SAP hydrogel structures were successfully produced by functionalization of SAP with GAG mimetic peptide epitope, and effect of these hydrogels on cell viability was evaluated by cell culture methods in this work.