Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of the Cartilage Scaffold for Cartilage Repair
Abstract
Many people suffer from cartilage defects, but there is no suitable way of solving this problem. The main reason people have so many problems is because cartilage cannot heal itself the way skin and bone can. A well investigated solution to this problem is the cartilage scaffold. Our research focused on a type of scaffold that is inserted into the defect area and allows stem cells to come in and turn into healthy cartilage. The problem this scaffold faces is the lacking mechanical properties. The base of the scaffold comes from the nucleus pulposus of the ox tail. The scaffold then must be decellularized since it contains ox cells. When the scaffold is decellularized, it loses some GAG, which is important to the mechanical properties. To help stop the loss, the GAG in the scaffold can be crosslinked. The two tests we assessed compares crosslinked scaffolds and scaffolds that have not been crosslinked. The first test checked the amount of GAG left in the scaffold after decellularization. This showed that crosslinking does keep GAG in the scaffold. The second test assessed the stiffness of the scaffolds. The scaffolds that were crosslinked were not as stiff as the scaffolds that were not crosslinked. The second test is not reliable and will have to be redone for a longer amount of time. The results of the tests shows that decellularization could be an extremely important factor in improving the mechanical properties of the cartilage scaffold.
Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of the Cartilage Scaffold for Cartilage Repair
HSS 203
Many people suffer from cartilage defects, but there is no suitable way of solving this problem. The main reason people have so many problems is because cartilage cannot heal itself the way skin and bone can. A well investigated solution to this problem is the cartilage scaffold. Our research focused on a type of scaffold that is inserted into the defect area and allows stem cells to come in and turn into healthy cartilage. The problem this scaffold faces is the lacking mechanical properties. The base of the scaffold comes from the nucleus pulposus of the ox tail. The scaffold then must be decellularized since it contains ox cells. When the scaffold is decellularized, it loses some GAG, which is important to the mechanical properties. To help stop the loss, the GAG in the scaffold can be crosslinked. The two tests we assessed compares crosslinked scaffolds and scaffolds that have not been crosslinked. The first test checked the amount of GAG left in the scaffold after decellularization. This showed that crosslinking does keep GAG in the scaffold. The second test assessed the stiffness of the scaffolds. The scaffolds that were crosslinked were not as stiff as the scaffolds that were not crosslinked. The second test is not reliable and will have to be redone for a longer amount of time. The results of the tests shows that decellularization could be an extremely important factor in improving the mechanical properties of the cartilage scaffold.
