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Wang H, Chen S, Liu Z, Meng Q, Sobreiro-Almeida R, Liu L, Haugen HJ, Li J, Mano JF, Hong Y, Crouzier T, Yan H, Li B. Preserving the Immune-Privileged Niche of the Nucleus Pulposus: Safeguarding Intervertebral Discs from Degeneration after Discectomy with Synthetic Mucin Hydrogel Injection. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2024:e2404496. [PMID: 39207014 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202404496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2024] [Revised: 08/09/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation is a prevalent spinal disorder, often necessitating surgical intervention such as microdiscectomy for symptomatic relief and nerve decompression. IVDs comprise a gel-like nucleus pulposus (NP) encased by an annulus fibrosus (AF), and their avascular nature renders them immune-privileged. Microdiscectomy exposes the residual NP to the immune system, precipitating an immune cell infiltration and attack that exacerbates IVD degeneration. While many efforts in the tissue engineering field are directed toward IVD regeneration, the inherently limited regenerative capacity due to the avascular and low-cellularity nature of the disc and the challenging mechanical environment of the spine often impedes success. This study, aiming to prevent IVD degeneration post-microdiscectomy, utilizes mucin-derived gels (Muc-gels) that form a gel at the surgical site, inspired by the natural mucin coating on living organisms to evade immune reorganization. It is shown that type I macrophages are present in severely degenerated human discs. Encapsulating IVDs within Muc-gels prevents fibrous encapsulation and macrophage infiltration in a mouse subcutaneous model. The injection of Muc-gels prevents IVD degeneration in a rat tail IVD degeneration model up to 24 weeks post-operation. Mechanistic investigations indicate that Muc-gels attenuate immune cell infiltration into NPs, offering durable protection against immune attack post-microdiscectomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Wang
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Song Chen
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Zhao Liu
- National University of Singapore Suzhou Research Institute, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Qingchen Meng
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Rita Sobreiro-Almeida
- CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
| | - Ling Liu
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Håvard Jostein Haugen
- Department of Biomaterials, Institute for Clinical Dentistry, University of Oslo, PO Box 1109 Blindern, Oslo, 0376, Norway
| | - Jiaying Li
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - João F Mano
- CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-193, Portugal
| | - Youzhi Hong
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
| | - Thomas Crouzier
- Department of Health Technology, DTU, Ørsteds Plads, building 345C DK-2800 Kgs, Lyngby, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Hongji Yan
- Department of Medical Cell Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 75123, Sweden
- AIMES - Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences at Karolinska Institute and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 17177, Sweden
| | - Bin Li
- Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
- MOE Key Laboratory of Geriatric Diseases and Immunology, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215000, China
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Henkel M, Kimna C, Lieleg O. DNA Crosslinked Mucin Hydrogels Allow for On-Demand Gel Disintegration and Triggered Particle Release. Macromol Biosci 2024; 24:e2300427. [PMID: 38217373 DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202300427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
Whereas hydrogels created from synthetic polymers offer a high level of control over their stability and mechanical properties, their biomedical activity is typically limited. In contrast, biopolymers have evolved over billions of years to integrate a broad range of functionalities into a single design. Thus, biopolymeric hydrogels can show remarkable capabilities such as regulatory behavior, selective barrier properties, or antimicrobial effects. Still, despite their widespread use in numerous biomedical applications, achieving a meticulous control over the physical properties of macroscopic biopolymeric networks remains a challenge. Here, a macroscopic, DNA-crosslinked mucin hydrogel with tunable viscoelastic properties that responds to two types of triggers: temperature alterations and DNA displacement strands, is presented. As confirmed with bulk rheology and single particle tracking, the hybridized base pairs governing the stability of the hydrogel can be opened, thus allowing for a precise control over the hydrogel stiffness and even enabling a full gel-to-sol transition. As those DNA-crosslinked mucin hydrogels possess tunable mechanical properties and can be disintegrated on demand, they can not only be considered for controlled cargo release but may also serve as a role model for the development of smart biomedical materials in applications such as tissue engineering and wound healing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Henkel
- School of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748, Garching, Germany
- Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA) and Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer Straße 8, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Ceren Kimna
- School of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748, Garching, Germany
- Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA) and Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer Straße 8, 85748, Garching, Germany
| | - Oliver Lieleg
- School of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748, Garching, Germany
- Center for Protein Assemblies (CPA) and Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Ernst-Otto-Fischer Straße 8, 85748, Garching, Germany
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Donahue R, Sahoo JK, Rudolph S, Chen Y, Kaplan DL. Mucosa-Mimetic Materials for the Study of Intestinal Homeostasis and Disease. Adv Healthc Mater 2023; 12:e2300301. [PMID: 37329337 DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202300301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2023] [Revised: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Mucus is a viscoelastic hydrogel that lines and protects the epithelial surfaces of the body that houses commensal microbiota and functions in host defense against pathogen invasion. As a first-line physical and biochemical barrier, intestinal mucus is involved in immune surveillance and spatial organization of the microbiome, while dysfunction of the gut mucus barrier is implicated in several diseases. Mucus can be collected from a variety of mammalian sources for study, however, established methods are challenging in terms of scale and efficiency, as well as with regard to rheological similarity to native human mucus. Therefore, there is a need for mucus-mimetic hydrogels that more accurately reflect the physical and chemical profile of the in vivo human epithelial environment to enable the investigation of the role of mucus in human disease and interactions with the intestinal microbiome. This review will evaluate the material properties of synthetic mucus mimics to date designed to address the above need, with a focus toward an improved understanding of the biochemical and immunological functions of these biopolymers related to utility for research and therapeutic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Donahue
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA
| | - Jugal Kishore Sahoo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA
| | - Sara Rudolph
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA
| | - Ying Chen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA
| | - David L Kaplan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby St., Medford, MA, 02155, USA
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Yang S, Duncan GA. Synthetic mucus biomaterials for antimicrobial peptide delivery. J Biomed Mater Res A 2023; 111:1616-1626. [PMID: 37199137 PMCID: PMC10524183 DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Despite the promise of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections, their therapeutic efficacy is limited due to the rapid degradation and low bioavailability of AMPs. To address this, we have developed and characterized a synthetic mucus (SM) biomaterial capable of delivering LL37 AMPs and enhancing their therapeutic effect. LL37 is an AMP that exhibits a wide range of antimicrobial activity against bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa. LL37 loaded SM hydrogels demonstrated controlled release with 70%-95% of loaded LL37 over 8 h due to charge-mediated interactions between mucins and LL37 AMPs. Compared to treatment with LL37 alone where antimicrobial activity was reduced after 3 h, LL37-SM hydrogels inhibited P. aeruginosa (PAO1) growth over 12 h. LL37-SM hydrogel treatment reduced PAO1 viability over 6 h whereas a rebound in bacterial growth was observed when treated with LL37 only. These data demonstrate LL37-SM hydrogels enhance antimicrobial activity by preserving LL37 AMP activity and bioavailability. Overall, this work establishes SM biomaterials as a platform for enhanced AMP delivery for antimicrobial applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sydney Yang
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | - Gregg A Duncan
- Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
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Miranda-Martínez A, Yan H, Silveira V, Serrano-Olmedo JJ, Crouzier T. Portable Quartz Crystal Resonator Sensor for Characterising the Gelation Kinetics and Viscoelastic Properties of Hydrogels. Gels 2022; 8:718. [PMID: 36354626 PMCID: PMC9690109 DOI: 10.3390/gels8110718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Hydrogel biomaterials have found use in various biomedical applications partly due to their biocompatibility and tuneable viscoelastic properties. The ideal rheological properties of hydrogels depend highly on the application and should be considered early in the design process. Rheometry is the most common method to study the viscoelastic properties of hydrogels. However, rheometers occupy much space and are costly instruments. On the other hand, quartz crystal resonators (QCRs) are devices that can be used as low-cost, small, and accurate sensors to measure the viscoelastic properties of fluids. For this reason, we explore the capabilities of a low-cost and compact QCR sensor to sense and characterise the gelation process of hydrogels while using a low sample amount and by sensing two different crosslink reactions: covalent bonds and divalent ions. The gelation of covalently crosslinked mucin hydrogels and physically crosslinked alginate hydrogels could be monitored using the sensor, clearly distinguishing the effect of several parameters affecting the viscoelastic properties of hydrogels, including crosslinking chemistry, polymer concentrations, and crosslinker concentrations. QCR sensors offer an economical and portable alternative method to characterise changes in a hydrogel material's viscous properties to contribute to this type of material design, thus providing a novel approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Miranda-Martínez
- Centre for Biomedical Technology (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Hongji Yan
- Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- AIMES-Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences, Karolinska Institutet and KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Valentin Silveira
- Division of Wood Science and Technology, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, SLU, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - José Javier Serrano-Olmedo
- Centre for Biomedical Technology (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Networking Research Center of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Thomas Crouzier
- Division of Glycoscience, Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- AIMES-Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences, Karolinska Institutet and KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
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