Bioengineering a tendon-like substitute: adult stem cell behavior in aligned fibrous scaffolds and stimulating culturing environments

Healthy tendons are composed of a highly oriented network of collagen fibrils and tendon resident cells. This unique structural organization provides these tissues with the necessary tensile properties to withstand constant loading from locomotion and routine movements. Also, mechanical conditioning has been described to positively affect tendon cell proliferation, differentiation and increase extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis (1, 2). Therefore, the use of mechanical loading is expected to promote this level of organization for achieving successful tissue-engineered (TE) tendon substitutes.

In this work, we propose to bioengineer a tendon-like structure based on a biodegradable natural based polymer made of a blend of starch and polycaprolactone (SPCL) with aligned arrangements similar to the collagen fibrillar bundles in tendons, mimicking the native tissue architecture. Human adipose stem cells (hASCs) were seeded onto these SPCL aligned scaffolds and cell behavior assessed in dynamic and static conditions. Dynamic stimulation was provided by a flow perfusion bioreactor, whose effect on the proliferation and tenogenic differentiation of hASCs was analyzed after 14 days of culture.