Tissue Engineering Cartilage with a Composite Electrospun and Hydrogel Scaffold

Wright, Lee David

Tissue Engineering Cartilage with a Composite Electrospun and Hydrogel Scaffold

dc.contributor.author	Wright, Lee David	en
dc.contributor.committeechair	Freeman, Joseph W.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Rylander, M. Nichole	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lee, Yong Woo	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Goldstein, Aaron S.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Ferguson, Cristin M.	en
dc.contributor.department	Biomedical Engineering	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-14T21:10:15Z	en
dc.date.adate	2011-05-04	en
dc.date.available	2014-03-14T21:10:15Z	en
dc.date.issued	2011-03-23	en
dc.date.rdate	2011-05-04	en
dc.date.sdate	2011-04-06	en
dc.description.abstract	Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent musculoskeletal disease in humans, severely reducing the standard of living of millions of people. Osteoarthritis is characterized by degeneration and loss of articular cartilage which leads to pain, and loss of joint motility and function. Individuals suffering from severe osteoarthritis are commonly treated with full knee replacements. The procedure does eliminate the problem of degrading cartilage tissue; however, it does not fully restore function and its lifetime can be limited. To overcome the disadvantages of current treatments, tissue engineering has become a focus of research to regenerate cartilage. Tissue engineering attempts to repair or replace damaged tissue with cells, biomaterials, and/or molecular signals. Biodegradable scaffolds serve as a temporary replacement for the tissue until it has regenerated. Two types of scaffolds that have been used in tissue engineering are electrospun scaffolds and hydrogels. We have proposed and fabricated a scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering that incorporates an electrospun cylinder and a thermosetting hydrogel in order to provide improved properties compared to either individual material. Electrospun cylinders were created by sintering electrospun mats that include salt pores. The addition of salt pores decreased the mechanical properties of the electrospun materials while also improving the capability of cells to infiltrate into the scaffold. The sintering process involved the connecting of one electrospun mat to an adjacent one. Specifically, poly(d,l-lactide) was capable of sintering to an adjacent electrospun mat when exposed to either heat (near the glass transition temperature) or tetrahydrofuran vapor. The sintering process did not deteriorate the structure or function of the electrospun material. Sintering allowed the creation of unique structures of electrospun material that previously could not be produced. A thermosetting hydrogel was added to the scaffold to replicate the function of proteoglycans present in articular cartilage. A composite scaffold of electrospun polymer and hydrogel showed improved mechanical properties and better integration of the scaffold in vivo compared to an electrospun scaffold with no hydrogel. In conclusion, the composite electrospun and hydrogel scaffold could become an excellent tissue engineering scaffold to treat patients suffering from osteoarthritis.	en
dc.description.degree	Ph. D.	en
dc.identifier.other	etd-04062011-165522	en
dc.identifier.sourceurl	http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04062011-165522/	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/37553	en
dc.publisher	Virginia Tech	en
dc.relation.haspart	Wright_LD_D_2011.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	Wright_LD_D_2011_Copyright.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	Wright_LD_D_2011_FairUse.pdf	en
dc.rights	In Copyright	en
dc.rights.uri	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/	en
dc.subject	electrospinning	en
dc.subject	hydrogel	en
dc.subject	scaffold	en
dc.subject	tissue engineering	en
dc.subject	cartilage	en
dc.title	Tissue Engineering Cartilage with a Composite Electrospun and Hydrogel Scaffold	en
dc.type	Dissertation	en
thesis.degree.discipline	Biomedical Engineering	en
thesis.degree.grantor	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	en
thesis.degree.level	doctoral	en
thesis.degree.name	Ph. D.	en