Application of chitosan and its derivatives in cartilage tissue engineering / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Chitosan and its derivatives have become one of the most active research topics in the field of tissue-engineered scaffold material substitute for cartilage owing to their porous structure, ease of chemical modification, and high affinity to in vivo macromolecules. OBJECTIVE:To summarize chitosan and its derivatives in terms of design, modification and its application in tissue engineering. METHODS:A computer-based search of CNKI and PubMed databases was performed for papers on application of chitosan and its derivatives in cartilage tissue engineering published from January 1990 to January 2015 with the key words“chitosan;chitosan derivatives;scaffold;tissue engineering;cartilage”in Chinese and English. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Chitosan is a natural polymer from renewable resources, modification of chitosan has been found to be necessary for its advanced tissue engineering applications. The modification of chitosan can be divided into two categories including chemical modification and physical blending, which improve its biological properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability. Recent studies have suggested that chondrocytes maintained round morphology and preserved synthesis of cel-specific extracel ular matrix molecules on chitosan substrates in vitro and chitosan scaffolds seeded with chondrocytes showed partial repair of cartilage defects in vitro. Chitosan and its derivatives are promising candidates as a supporting material for tissue engineering applications.