Expansion of human bone marrow stromal cells on poly-(lactide-co-glycolide) hollow fibers designed for use in skeletal tissue engineering

Strategies to expand human bone marrow stromal cells (HBMSC) for bone tissue engineering are a key to revolutionizing the processes involved in three-dimensional skeletal tissue reconstruction. To facilitate this process the authors believe the use of biodegradable porous poly(DL-lactide-coglycolide) (PDLLGA) hollow fibers as a scaffold used in combination with HBMSC to initiate natural bone repair and regeneration offers a potential soln. In this study, the biocompatibility of 75:25 PDLLGA fibers with HBMSC and the capacity of a PDLLGA fiber-assocd. HBMSC-monolayer to establish an osteogenic phenotype in vivo was examd. A high proportion of HBMSC survived when expanded on PDLLGA fibers for 6 days, with only 10% of the propidium iodide (pI)-labeled population represented in the sub-G1 DNA peak on anal. by flow cytometry. Tracking carboxy-fluorescein diacetate, succinimidyl ester (CFSE)-labeled HBMSC by flow cytometry indicated that HBMSC attachment to the PDLLGA fibers does not interfere with their rate of proliferation. Furthermore, in response to osteogenic stimuli, HBMSC expanded on PDLLGA fibers can differentiate, as expected, along the osteogenic lineage with assocd. alk. phosphatase activity. Following implantation into SCID mice, osteogenic-conditioned PDLLGA fiber-HBMSC graft resulted in type I collagen deposition and assocd. bone mineralization and osteoid formation, as evidenced by immunohistochem. and histol. These studies provide evidence that porous PDLLGA hollow fiber-HBMSC graft is an innovative biomaterial that offers new approaches to mesenchymal cell expansion, which could be utilized as a scaffold for skeletal tissue generation. [on SciFinder (R)]