Osteoarthritis (OA), also known as degenerative joint disease, is one of the most common types of arthritis and is characterized, or associated, with the breakdown of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of articular cartilage. This deterioration of the articular cartilage ECM leads to bone exposure and subsequent bone-on-bone rubbing and associated inflammation that causes pain and loss of movement in the joint. According to the Arthritis Foundation, OA affects an estimated 21 million people in the United States alone with up to 80% of those individuals reporting some limitation in movement or activity. This costs the United Sates economy an estimated $65 billion per year in direct expenses and lost wages/production. Collagen is the natural scaffolding found in all tissues and has been explored extensively for use as a tissue-engineering scaffold with limited success. In this feasibility study, the electrospinning of collagen type II and subsequent chondrocyte seeding will be investigated for potential use in cartilage tissue engineering (Patents Pending). A preliminary of study electrospun collagen type II demonstrated that collagen type II could be electrospun to form non-woven fibrous mats composed of fibers that ranged from 110 nm to 1.8 microns in diameter. The preliminary chondrocyte seeding demonstrated that electrospun collagen type II scaffolds support cell growth and are readily infiltrated. Furthermore, detailed, feasibility studies are now proposed herein.
Specific Aim 1 will be collagen type II preliminary processing from bovine articular cartilage including extraction of collagen and purification.
Specific Aim 2 will be to electrospin various structures of randomly orientated collagen type II and create a diversity of physical and mechanical characteristics.
Specific Aim 3 will characterize the biomechanical/structural properties of the electrospun collagen type II constructs (dry and hydrated) by tensile testing of the bulk material as well as measuring fiber diameter, pore dimensions, scaffold permeability and porosity.
Specific Aim 4 will evaluate the collagen type II composition and overall structural properties (fiber diameter and pore size) on the chondrocytes response and overall tissue development after optimum cell seeding and 2, 4 and 6 week interactions with the collagen type II.
