Differentiation of human Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells on biomaterial-based scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

Degenerative diseases due to damaged articular cartilage in the hip, knee, and other body parts require suitable materials for repairing damaged tissue application. Therefore, the regenerative technology involving tissue engineering is needed as one of the available alternatives. Tissue engineering generally develops stem cells or adult tissue cells as a source of cells. Stem cells can be seeded in a scaffold, which is a supporting material during cell regeneration process until new tissue is formed. One of the most readily available sources of multipotent stem cell is from human Wharton's jelly (Wharton's jelly derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells / hWJ-MSCs) which can be induced to chondrocytes. Protein-based scaffolds such as fibroin (SF) from silkworms (Bombyx mori) and spidroin (SS) from spiders (Argiope sp.) can be developed and applied to repair damaged tissues since the materials are biodegradable and also biocompatible. Biocompatibility test showed that the scaffolds made SF mixed with SS were not toxic to hWJ-MSCs. Scaffold with SS 10% mixed with SF 90% is able to support cell proliferation better than silk fibroin scaffold 100%. The supplementation of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and ascorbic acid (LAA) on hWJ-MSCs were able to increase cell proliferation ability, which is one of important steps in chondrogenic differentiation. PRP with a concentration of 10% (v/v) and LAA with a concentration of 50 μg/ml can increase cell proliferation rate better than other concentration variations. Cell attachment through vinculin expression observed with Immunocytochemistry (ICC) method, the results show that in 12, 24 and 48 hours cell attachment to scaffold with spidroin fiber 10% + fibroin fiber 90% increased significantly compared to 100% fibroin scaffold.