Effect of Gelatin Modification on Enzymatically-Gellable Pectin-Gelatin Hydrogel Scaffold for Soft Tissue Engineering Application

Background and Aim: In recent year, modification of natural and availablematerials is one of the solutions for the production of biodegradablehydrogel scaffoldsMethods: In this study, therefore, the modifications of pectin and gelatinwere accomplished through cross-linking with EDC and NHS, and thephenolic group was placed on the carboxyl –COOH groups of thematerials for hydrogenation in the presence of the horseradish peroxidaseenzyme and hydrogen peroxide. Pectin modified (2%)-gelatin (1%)(P.ph-G) and pectin modified (2%)-gelatin modified (1%) (P.ph-G.ph)were prepared as two types of hydrogel scaffolds by peroxidase enzymeand their properties were investigatedResults: The P.ph-G.ph scaffold was mechanically more resistant thanP.ph-G as the P.ph-G scaffold was broken by 54.7 kPa (73% strain)while P.ph-G.ph at 155 kPa remained intact. More resistance means lessdegrades, as the degradation rate of P.ph-G and P.ph-G.ph hydrogelswere observed at 50.6% and 25.3%, respectively. By considering SEMimages, P.ph-G pore sizes were two times more than P.ph-G. As the largerpores can absorb more water, the swelling ratios of P.ph-G and P.ph-G. ph were obtained 41.4% and 10.6%, respectively. Gelation time showeda faster gelation of the P.ph-G compared to P.ph-G.ph hydrogels. Theresults of cell test after 14 days using chondrocyte cells showed that thecells proliferated 2.29-fold in the P.ph-G hydrogels and 8.81-fold in theP.ph-G.ph hydrogels, respectively.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that P.ph-G.ph hydrogelhas a valuable potential for use in the fabrication of soft tissues, especiallycartilage.

کلیدواژه ها:

Enzymatically-gellable hydrogels ، Pectin ، Gelatin ، Soft tissue engineering