The Experimental Study On The Copolymer Of Polyvinyl Alcohol And Collagen Applying To Tissue Engineering Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Objective: To explore a three-dimensional scaffold for constructing tissue engineering anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in vitro, and to study the adhesion, migration and three-dimensional growth of ACL cells on PVA/collagen ploymer.Methods: Firstly, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and collagen were put together in the rate of 3:1 of quality to make a polymer, which was made holes by a compound. Then we made the ploymer into a membrane, studied its biomechanical compatibility, and measured the ultimate tensile load of it and the hole diameter and porosity as well. The membranes were implanted into the New Zealand rabbit subcutaneous to observe the tissue compatibility and characterization of degrade in vivo of the-2-polymer. Lastly, we obtained ACL cells from the human knee during the local knee replacement because of osteoarthritis or knee injury, seeding the cells onto the surface of the membrane and the scaffold, and cultured them with Dulbecco's modified Eagle-s medium (DMEM) with 10% newborn calf serum.Results: We made the scaffold with the hole diameter of 100-150um, and the porosity of 90%. Observed under the scan electronic microscope (SEM), the membrane had three-dimensional communicated holes like a spongy. The ultimate tensile load of the scaffold reached 8.10 0.28MPa. There was a cyst 2 weeks after the polymer were implanted into the New Zealand. The cyst wall went though thick, stability and thin. 24 weeks after their implanting, the wall turned very thin without inflammation. Furthermore, the scaffolds lost their weight and became more brittle than those were not implanted, the evidence of degrade were emerged on the surface of the scaffold. The polymer had no toxin for cell in vitro. With the formation of spongy, most ACL cells resided in the net holes and adhered to the scaffolds, they grew and proliferated well both on the surface and in the holes of the polymer scaffold. The cell appearance was similar to the classical fibroblast. Conclusions:1. Appropriate diameter and porosity could be made in this polymer for accommodating ACL cells.-3-2. This three-dimensional PVA/collagen scaffold has good biological and biomechanical compatibility and has no toxin for cells.3. It can be used to adhere and migrate ACL cells in vitro, and may become an ideal biomaterial for constructing a tissue engineering ACL if the biomechanical properties can be improved.