Biological Characterization Of A Glutaraldehyde Cross-linked Type Ⅱ Collagen Scaffold For Nucleus Pulposus Differentiation Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

In pulposus tissue engineering, functional expression of the target cells depends on the biomaterial. However, it has been difficult to develop an appropriate scaffold for differentiating human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) into nucleus pulposus cells despite an increasing number of studies on biological scaffold materials. This study aimed to create a new scaffold for hMSCs culture and pulposus differentiation using glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen type Ⅱ. The results demonstrated that a glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen type Ⅱ scaffold does not adversely affect cell proliferation or cause cytotoxicity. hMSCs cultured on plates coated with collagen type Ⅱ exhibited increased gene expression of sox-9, collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan compared to cells cultured on collage type Ⅰ. In contrast, protein expression of sox-9, collagen Ⅱ and aggrecan were significantly increased in cells cultured on collagen type Ⅰ. Moreover, the glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen type Ⅱ scaffold did not significantly affect hMSC gene and protein expression. We conclude that collagen type Ⅱ can initiate and maintain hMSC pulposus differentiation. However, a glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen type Ⅱ scaffold was not an effective biomaterial for pulposus differentiation of hMSC.