Two Layered Scaffolds (Loofah/PLLA/Cellulose/Chitin) for Repair of Osteochondral Defect

Research of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine continues to develop advanced materials that can better mimic the significant architecture and functional properties of native tissues. Treatment of osteochondral injuries by using scaffolds contains the problem of fixation and integration of the engineered tissue to the surrounding one. Therefore, tissue engineered osteochondral graft design must be directed not only to the injured cartilage but also to the subchondral bone for a sufficient osteochondral repair and integration of the neo-cartilage into the osseous surrounding. In this study, we produced a bilayer scaffold and investigated the ability of co-cultures of chondrocytes and osteoblasts to repair articular cartilage in osteochondral defects. For this purpose, fibrin glued loofah+PLLA+cellulose scaffold with MG-63 cells and loofah+PLLA+chitin scaffold with SW-1353 cells were used to promote bone and cartilage regeneration, respectively. Viability tests and morphology images indicated that this bilayer scaffold had good affinity for osteoblast and chondrocytes cells, encouraging their growth, proliferation and attachment. Histological and immune-histochemical staining analyses confirmed that loofah bilayer scaffolds provided a good support for the cells. Based on the preliminary results in vitro, we suggest that the integrated bilayer scaffold consisting of loofah+PLLA+cellulose and loofah+PLLA+chitin, has potential use to repair osteochondral defects, either upon cellular implantation and/or in acellular form.