Three-dimensional scaffolds from keratin with good water stability have been developed and demonstrated to be promising candidates in cartilage tissue engineering. Tissue engineering approaches provide appealing therapies for defected cartilages, which have limited self healing capacity. Proteins are preferred in tissue engineering due to their structural similarity to native extracellular matrix components. However, protein scaffolds suffered from poor water stability and dimensional integrity and thus required crosslinking. Meanwhile, due to the high crosslinking degrees, keratin based materials are intrinsically water-stable. Keratin has also been indicated to be favorable for cell attachment and proliferation due to the existence of cell-binding RGD tripeptide in its molecular structure. In this research, keratin sponges with controllable pore sizes have been made from dissolution and freeze-drying method and characterized. The keratin sponges could retain their morphologies after being in wet state for 21 days. Adipose derived stem cells showed good attachment and proliferation on keratin sponges. The chondrogenic differentiation of adipose stem cells was well supported on keratin sponges as shown by the results of GAG assay and collagen II assay. Keratin sponges have good potential for cartilage tissue engineering.

Potential of 3D porous scaffolds from feather keratin for cartilage repair

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.