Evaluation of Cartilage Tissue Engineering Strategies by IR Imaging

摘要： 尽管在理解骨性关节炎的病理生理学方面取得了进展，但仍没有明确的非手术治疗方法。 治疗方案。此外，旨在生产模拟软骨材料的组织工程学策略已经 看起来只取得了有限的成功；一个重大的障碍是无法充分评估 开发组织，以便能够识别用于植入的最佳构造。最近，我们展示了 非破坏性近红外光谱(NIRS)分析技术可用于评估 天然和工程软骨的主要分子成分。近红外数据与水和 这些组织中的基质含量(胶原蛋白和蛋白多糖)与机械性能有关。在验证了 近红外技术用于软骨评估，我们建议扩大我们的研究范围，以解决一个重要的新兴问题 肌肉骨骼组织工程领域，识别适合临床的个体结构 植入。这些研究是基于这样一个原则，即在构建成熟之前增加 植入可以用来预测体内的成功。我们假设软骨的成熟 NIRS可以监测矩阵，光谱数据可以作为临床成功的预测指标。我们 我将在一系列体外和体内研究中解决这个问题，这些研究使用近红外光谱来评估构建的发展 分析。一种细胞种植的透明质酸(HA)支架，以前被证明可以有效地促进基质 生产和开发功能材料的性能，将作为模型系统 植入猪软骨修复模型。 拟议的近红外光谱技术将建立一种新的、非破坏性的植入前模式 临床种植用工程化组织研制的评价。目前还没有微创的 基于分子生物学的软骨修复组织成熟度的临床评价方法 签名。评价组织全深度成分的临床相关光学方法的发展 在大型动物模型中将为这项技术转化为临床提供强有力的支持 布景。这种分析也将代表着一种全新的、强有力的方法来评估和 指导软骨治疗学。一种可以在体外使用的非破坏性方式的可能性 开发组织以评估成分和确定植入结构的实验室实验，如 在这些结构被植入临床后，它确实是一种强大的技术，可以发挥 在再生医学领域发挥核心作用。

Summary: In spite of progress in understanding the pathophysiology of OA, there remain no definitive non-surgical treatment options. Further, tissue engineering strategies designed to produce cartilage-mimetic materials have seen only limited success; a significant impediment is the inability to fully assess the molecular structure of developing tissue such that optimal constructs for implantation can be identified. Recently, we demonstrated that the technique of non-destructive near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) analysis can be utilized to assess the primary molecular components of native and engineered cartilage. NIRS data correlates strongly to water and matrix content (collagen and proteoglycan) in these tissues, and to mechanical properties. Having validated the NIR technology for cartilage assessment, we propose to extend our studies to address an important emerging area of musculoskeletal tissue engineering, identification of individual constructs suitable for clinical implantation. These studies are based on the principle that increases in construct maturation prior to implantation can be utilized to predict in vivo success. We hypothesize that maturation of the cartilaginous matrix can be monitored by NIRS, and that the spectral data can be used as a predictor of clinical success. We will address this in a series of in vitro and in vivo studies that evaluate construct development using NIRS analysis. A cell-seeded hyaluronic acid (HA) scaffold, previously shown to be effective at promoting matrix production and the development of functional material properties, will serve as the model system for implantation into a porcine model of cartilage repair. The proposed NIRS technology would establish a novel, non-destructive modality for pre-implantation evaluation of developing engineered tissues for clinical implantation. There are currently no minimally-invasive methods available for the clinical assessment of cartilage repair tissue maturation based on molecular signatures. The development of clinically-relevant optical methods to evaluate full-depth composition of tissues in a large animal model will provide a strong underpinning for translation of this technique into the clinical setting. Such analyses would also represent a fundamentally new and powerful approach for evaluating and guiding cartilage therapeutics. The possibility of one non-destructive modality that can be used in vitro during laboratory experiments of developing tissues to assess composition and identify constructs for implantation, as well as after the constructs are implanted clinically, would indeed be a powerful technique that could play a central role in the regenerative medicine field.