AI Article Synopsis

  • Ligament tissue engineering is a new method aimed at treating ligament injuries by using synthetic substitutes instead of relying on autografts.
  • Key components in this process include seed cells, nanoscaffolds, growth factors, and mechanical stimulation, with challenges in guiding stem cells to become ligament-specific cells.
  • The mechanical properties of artificial ligaments and factors like uniaxial stretching are crucial for stem cell differentiation, and proteins like RhoA/ROCK are involved in this process, but their exact influence on differentiation needs further exploration for better tissue engineering outcomes.

Article Abstract

Ligament tissue engineering is currently a novel approach to the treatment of ligament injury, which can replace the deficiency of autografts. Ligament tissue engineering consists of four basic elements:seed cells, nanoscaffolds, growth factors, and mechanical stimulation. At present, the main problem in ligament tissue engineering is how to control seed cells to ligament cells more controllly. The study found that each physical property of the natural bio ligament and mechanical stimulation (uniaxial stretching) plays an important role in the differentiation of stem cells into ligament cells. Therefore, the design of nanofiber scaffolds must consider the elastic modulus of the material and the material. Structure(material arrangement, porosity and diameter, etc.), elastic modulus and material structure in different ranges will guide cells to differentiate into different lineages. Considering that the ligament is the main force-bearing tissue of the human body, mechanical stimulation is also essential for stem cell differentiation, especially uniaxial stretching, which best meets the stress of the ligament in the body. A large number of studies have found the frequency and amplitude of stretching. And time will also lead the cells to differentiate in different directions. RhoA/ROCK plays a regulatory role in cytoskeletal remodeling and cell differentiation. It is also found that RhoA/ROCK protein participates in the process of nanofiber arrangement and uniaxial stretching to guide stem cells to differentiate into ligament cells, specifically how to influence stem cell differentiation. It is not clear at present that understanding the effects of physical properties on stem cell differentiation and understanding the mechanism of action of RhoA/ROCK protein will provide a new theoretical basis for further optimization of ligament tissue engineering.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.12200/j.issn.1003-0034.2020.11.019DOI Listing

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