Faculty Collaboration Database

Polymer-integrated amnion scaffold significantly improves cleft palate repair. Acta Biomater 2019 Jul 01;92:104-114

Date

05/19/2019

Pubmed ID

31102764

DOI

10.1016/j.actbio.2019.05.035

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85065781805 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   21 Citations

Abstract

Cleft palate is a common oral and craniomaxillofacial birth defect. As the ideal surgery time is shortly after birth, clinical treatments should result in minimal disruption of theskeleton to allow tissue growth in children. A tissue-engineered graft was created in this study for cleft palate repair by integrating poly(1,8-octamethylene-citrate) (POC) with a decellularized amnion membrane (DAM-POC) to incorporate the advantages of both the synthetic polymer and the native tissue. The success of POC incorporation was confirmed by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and fluorescence detection. The DAM-POC scaffold showed a certain level of structure collapse and lower stiffness but better resistance to enzyme digestion than the native amnion and DAM scaffold. The DAM-POC scaffold is cell compatible when seeded with mesenchymal stem cells, as evidenced by adequate cell viability and improved alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposit. A large palate defect was first surgically created in a young rat model and then repaired with the DAM-POC scaffold. Eight weeks postsurgery, histological study and CT scans showed nearly complete healing of both soft and hard tissues. In conclusion, we developed a cell-free, resorbable graft by incorporating and integrating a synthetic polymer with a human DAM. When the DAM-POC scaffold was applied to repair a large palate defect in young rats, it showed adequate biocompatibility as evidenced by its effectiveness in guiding hard and soft tissue regeneration and minimum interference with natural growth and palate development of rats. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Proper restoration of severe cleft palate remains a major challenge because of insufficient autologous soft tissues to close the open wounds, thereby causing high tension at the surgical junction, secondary palatal fistulas, wound contraction, scar tissue formation, and facial growth disturbances. In this study, we have developed a tissue-engineered graft through incorporating and integrating a synthetic polymer with the human amnion membrane for cleft palate repair. The significance of this study lies in our ability to develop a cell-free, resorbable graft that can provide a less surgically invasive option to cover the open defect and support palate regeneration and tissue growth. This technique could potentially advance soft and hard tissue regeneration in children with birth craniomaxillofacial defects.

Author List

Li W, Fu Y, Jiang B, Lo AY, Ameer GA, Barnett C, Wang B

Author

Bo Wang PhD Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Alkaline Phosphatase
Amnion
Animals
Calcium
Cell Proliferation
Cell Survival
Cleft Palate
Female
Humans
Palate
Polymers
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Tissue Scaffolds
Wound Healing