The Effects of Chitosan-Gelatin Scaffold in Differentiation of Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Stem Cells to Chondrocyte

Background and Aim: Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritisaffected millions of people known as a second debilitating disease.Cartilage tissue engineering composed of different elements as cells,scaffold and chemical factors. Recently Wharton s jelly mesenchymalstem cells (WJSCs) has been introduced as a suitable source for repair ofcartilage lesions. These cells have similarities to the cartilage extracellularmatrix. Among different scaffolds, chitosan-gelatin scaffolds seem to bea good candidate because of their similarities to cartilage ECM and antibacterialproperties. So, the aim of the present study is to investigatewhether WJSCs can differentiate into chondrocyte on chitosan-gelatinscaffolds.Methods: Chitosan-gelatin scaffolds fabricated by freeze-dryingtechnique. WJSCs at fourth passage were delivered on to chitosan-gelatinscaffolds and then treated with chondrocyte differentiating mediumfor 10 days. Then, after samples were prepared for evaluating geneexpression profile using real-time RT-PCR. The viability of WJSCs on thisscaffold also was evaluated using MTT technique. Attachment of cells tothe scaffolds was discerned by SEM. Fourier transform sub-spectrometry(FTR-IR) for qualitative and quantitative identification of compounds anddetermination of the functional group and the links in the sample is beingused.Results: MTT assay technique revealed the viability of WJSCs on chitosangelatinscaffolds. The high porosity of scaffolds was detected usingscanning electron microscopy. Real-time RT-PCR showed that the geneexpression profile of collagen type II, Sox-9 and comp was significantlyhigher compared to the monolayer culture. Gene expression profile ofaggrecan was higher in monolayer culture. The position of absorptionbands for functional groups is in very good agreement with the FT-IRdata of chitosan-gelatin scaffolds, which has been reported in previousstudies.Conclusion: Chitosan-gelatin scaffolds can be introduced as a goodcandidate for supporting the differentiation of WJSCs into chondrocytes.

کلیدواژه ها:

Osteoarthritis ، Chondrocyte ، Scaffold ، Wharton’s jelly ، Stem cells