Sustained delivery of bioactive TGF-β1 from self-assembling peptide hydrogels induces chondrogenesis of encapsulated bone marrow stromal cells

• Main Authors: Kopesky, Paul Wayne (Contributor), Byun, Sangwon (Contributor), Vanderploeg, Eric J. (Contributor), Kisiday, John D. (Author), Frisbie, David D. (Author), Grodzinsky, Alan J. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Biomedical Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013-07-25T20:46:43Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Tissue engineering strategies for cartilage defect repair require technology for local targeted delivery of chondrogenic and anti-inflammatory factors. The objective of this study was to determine the release kinetics of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) from self-assembling peptide hydrogels, a candidate scaffold for cell transplant therapies, and stimulate chondrogenesis of encapsulated young equine bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Although both peptide and agarose hydrogels retained TGF-β1, fivefold higher retention was found in peptide. Excess unlabeled TGF-β1 minimally displaced retained radiolabeled TGF-β1, demonstrating biologically relevant loading capacity for peptide hydrogels. The initial release from acellular peptide hydrogels was nearly threefold lower than agarose hydrogels, at 18% of loaded TGF-β1 through 3 days as compared to 48% for agarose. At day 21, cumulative release of TGF-β1 was 32-44% from acellular peptide hydrogels, but was 62% from peptide hydrogels with encapsulated BMSCs, likely due to cell-mediated TGF-β1 degradation and release of small labeled species. TGF-β1 loaded peptide hydrogels stimulated chondrogenesis of young equine BMSCs, a relevant preclinical model for treating injuries in young human cohorts. Self-assembling peptide hydrogels can be used to deliver chondrogenic factors to encapsulated cells making them a promising technology for in vivo, cell-based regenerative medicine.