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Abstract
Cell sheet engineering has emerged as a novel approach to effectively deliver seeding cells for tissue regeneration, and developing human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (hBMMSC) sheets with high osteogenic ability is a constant requirement from clinics for faster and higher-quality bone formation. In this work, we fabricated biocompatible and safe chitosan (CS)/hyaluronic acid (HA) nanoparticles (NPs) to deliver microRNA-21 (miR-21), which has been proved to accelerate osteogenesis in hBMMSCs; then, the CS/HA/miR-21 NPs were cross-linked onto the surfaces of culture plates with 0.2% gel solution to fabricate miR-21-functionalized culture plates for reverse transfection. hBMMSC sheets were induced continuously for 14 days using a vitamin C-rich method on the miR-21-functionalized culture plates. For the characterization of CS/HA/miR-21 NPs, the particle size, zeta potential, surface morphology, and gel retardation were sequentially investigated. Then, the biological effects of hBMMSC sheets on the miR-21-functionalized culture plates were evaluated. The assay results demonstrated that the hBMMSC sheets could be successfully induced via the novel reverse transfection approach, and miR-21 delivery significantly enhanced the in vitro osteogenic differentiation of hBMMSC sheets in terms of upregulating calcification-related gene expression and enhancing alkaline phosphatase production, collagen secretion, and mineralized nodule formation. The enhanced osteogenic activity of hBMMSC sheets might promisingly lead to more rapid and more robust bone regeneration for clinical use.
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81200823) and the Shaanxi Province Science and Technology Research and Development Project (2014K11-01-02-13). The authors appreciate the Department of Toxicology, the Faculty of Preventive Medicine, the Fourth Military Medical University. ZW, GW, and MW are the co-first authors.
Author contributions
All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and critically revising the paper and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.