Reduction of inflammatory responses and enhancement of extracellular matrix formation by vanillin-incorporated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffolds

Vanillin is one of the major components of vanilla, a commonly used flavoring agent and preservative and is known to exert potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. In this work, vanillin-incorporated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) films and scaffolds were fabricated to evaluate the effects of vanillin on the inflammatory responses and extracellular matrix (ECM) formation in vitro and in vivo. The incorporation of vanillin to PLGA films induced hydrophilic nature, resulting in the higher cell attachment and proliferation than the pure PLGA film. Vanillin also reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells cultured on the pure PLGA film and significantly inhibited the PLGA-induced inflammatory responses in vivo, evidenced by the reduced accumulation of inflammatory cells and thinner fibrous capsules. The effects of vanillin on the ECM formation were evaluated using annulus fibrous (AF) cell-seeded porous PLGA/vanillin scaffolds. PLGA/vanillin scaffolds elicited the more production of glycosaminoglycan and collagen than the pure PLGA scaffold, in a concentration-dependent manner. Based on the low level of inflammatory responses and enhanced ECM formation, vanillin- incorporated PLGA constructs make them promising candidates in the future biomedical applications.