Tissue Engineering Initiative
Abstract
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Tissue Engineering Initiative was proposed to initiate novel tissue engineering projects as a collaboration between connective tissue biochemists, bioengineers, prototype engineers and physician researchers from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The primary focus of these projects was to test applications of gels consisting of purified hyaluronan, covalently crosslinked by divinyl sulfone (hylans). The gel formulations tested were obtained via collaboration with Biomatrix, Inc. During the first year of this project, considerable effort has been expended evaluating the biochemical makeup of these gels, as well as their biomechanical properties. Additionally, a set of experiments was designed to evaluate the ability of cells to attach to the gels and proliferate. It was found that untreated gels did not support good cell attachment. However, when surface coated with cell adhesion proteins (collagen I, extracellular matrix (ECM) gel, laminin, fibronectin), cells attach and proliferate actively. The mechanical property evaluations and cell attachment studies show properties necessary for the use of hylans as substrates for the development of tissue engineered cell-hylan composites. However, current hylan formulations have demonstrated some limitations to the proposed applications. Methods are currently under investigation to improve the properties of hylans to better suit the proposed tissue engineering applications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADB263763
Entities
People
- Vincent C. Hascall