PLGA from PolySciTech used in the development of oxygen-releasing tissue scaffold.

 

Traumatic injuries, cancer, and various other disease factors often lead to situations where portions of tissue are either lost or damaged. For cells to regrow and rebuild the damaged tissue they require a scaffold which can support their growth and metabolic requirements including access to oxygen and other nutrients. Recently, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center utilized PLGA (cat# AP082) from PolySciTech (www.polyscitech.com) to create a 3D printed scaffold containing embedded reservoirs of oxygen. This research holds promise to improve oxygen access and growth for cells grown on tissue scaffolds. Read more: Farris, Ashley L., Dennis Lambrechts, Yuxiao Zhou, Nicholas Y. Zhang, Naboneeta Sarkar, Megan C. Moorer, Alexandra N. Rindone et al. "3D-printed oxygen-releasing scaffolds improve bone regeneration in mice." Biomaterials (2021): 121318. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961221006748

“Abstract: Low oxygen (O2) diffusion into large tissue engineered scaffolds hinders the therapeutic efficacy of transplanted cells. To overcome this, we previously studied hollow, hyperbarically-loaded microtanks (μtanks) to serve as O2 reservoirs. To adapt these for bone regeneration, we fabricated biodegradable μtanks from polyvinyl alcohol and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) and embedded them to form 3D-printed, porous poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL)-μtank scaffolds. PCL-μtank scaffolds were loaded with pure O2 at 300–500 psi. When placed at atmospheric pressures, the scaffolds released O2 over a period of up to 8 h. We confirmed the inhibitory effects of hypoxia on the osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs and we validated that μtank-mediated transient hyperoxia had no toxic impacts on hASCs, possibly due to upregulation of endogenous antioxidant regulator genes. We assessed bone regeneration in vivo by implanting O2-loaded, hASC-seeded, PCL-μtank scaffolds into murine calvarial defects (4 mm diameters × 0.6 mm height) and subcutaneously (4 mm diameter × 8 mm height). In both cases we observed increased deposition of extracellular matrix in the O2 delivery group along with greater osteopontin coverages and higher mineral deposition. This study provides evidence that even short-term O2 delivery from PCL-μtank scaffolds may enhance hASC-mediated bone tissue regeneration.”