Evaluation of gelatin and gellan gum blended hydrogel for cartilage regeneration

Gellan gum is a natural polysaccharide with good heat, acid and enzymes resistance, and widely used for tissue engineering application. However, one of the drawbacks of gellan gum is lower cell attachment. Hence, in this study, gel-atin/gellan gum (G/GG) hydrogels containing 0, 10, 20, and 30 wt% of gelatin per gellan gum weight were prepared for improvement of chondrocyte attachment efficiency. The mechanical and chemical properties of prepared G/GG hydrogel were evaluated using compression strength, scanning electron microscopy and FTIR. Also, the cellular proliferation and functional maintenance of chondrocytes in hydrogel was assessed by MTT analysis, and RT-PCR. The results showed that 20 wt% G/GG hydrogel was 1.058, 1.051 and 1.04 folds higher chondrocyte proliferation compared to 0, 10 and 30 wt% and Type-II collagen gene expression was 1.35, 1.21 and 1.16 folds at 21 days, respectively. Thus, 20 wt% G/GG hydrogel can be envisioned as a useful biomaterial for future cartilage regeneration applications.