HEMA and alginate-based chondrogenic semi-interpenetrated hydrogels: synthesis and biological characterization

Abstract

Cartilage tissue engineering (CTE) has the general objective of restoring and improving damaged cartilage. A very interesting strategy of CTE is to combine different polymers to obtain a viscoelastic material. In this study, we have evaluated the applicability of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) networks semi-interpenetrated with sodium alginate for CTE. Alginate-containing hydrogels show an increase in scaffold porosity and swelling capacity, when compared with nonporous poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) scaffolds. Primary chondrocytes from young rats were cultured on the hydrogels, and an increase in chondrocyte proliferation and chondrocytic markers was observed in alginate-containing hydrogels. Chondrocytic phenotype was preserved on hydrogels containing the lowest amount of crosslinker and initiator (SEMI 3 and SEMI 4). In addition, nitric oxide production by RAW264.7 macrophages grown on hydrogels was tested, and none of the hydrogels showed high levels of this inflammatory marker after 2 days. These results indicate that our alginate-containing hydrogels could be useful for CTE.

Keywords:

• Semi-interpenetrating polymer network
• chondrocyte
• chondrocompatibility
• swelling
• contact angle

Acknowledgments

MLT is a fellow of CONICET, and TGO and JMF are a member of the Carrera del Investigador of CONICET.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by grants from Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CICPBA) and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2015-1030). This work was also supported by Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica.