A comprehensive study on cartilage regeneration using gellan-gum/chondroitin sulfate hybrid hydrogels

Gellan gum is a heterosaccharide composed of rhamnoose, glucuronic acid and glucose. It is a colorless tasteless odorless powder extracted from aquatic plants in Erodium. It is a biomaterial mainly used in modern tissue engineering. The chondroitin sulfate (CS) has been found to induce slow, sustained relief for osteoarthritis (OA) patients worldwide. It has been also proven a structurally improved arthritis drug that can relieve, delay or stabilize joint inflammation in many animal experiments and clinical trials, thus providing symptom relief in long-term. In this study, we investigated the effect of gellan gum scaffolds containing chondroitin for treating osteoarthritis in vitro. The content of chondroitin hybride in the scaffolds was set to 10, 20 and 30%, and scaffolds was prepared by hydrogel type. SEM was performed to characterize the scaffolds. The cell adhesion and proliferation rate were confirmed by MTT assay and gene expression by RT-PCR. In addition, the compressive strength test were perfomed to confirm mechanical strength. Overall results showed that 20% CS/GG scaffolds was best suitable for adhesion, proliferation rate and gene expression and can be potentially applied for cartilage regeneration.