Effects of alginate-chitosan core-shell nanoparticles encapsulated in gelatin methacrylate hydrogel on chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells

In this paper, gelatin methacrylate hydrogel scaffold, functionalized with growth factors loaded alginate-chitosan core-shell nanoparticles, were developed to enhance chondrogenic differentiation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. With the chosen preparation conditions, the encapsulation efficiency of transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF beta-1) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was calculated at 93.34% and 91.92%, respectively. The assay groups which contain loaded nanoparticles in hydrogels exhibited the highest DNA and glycosaminoglycan contents with 2.93 and 573.60 mu g/sample, respectively. Moreover, in the same group, it was observed that the amount of collagen also increased by 3.6-fold. Thus, the functionalized scaffold is promising construct for tissue engineering applications.