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Abstract
High seeding efficiency with homogenous distribution of limited cell sources such
as bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) are of clinical relevance in scaffold-based tissue
engineering. Therefore, considerable research efforts have been invested to ameliorate
the seeding efficiency in 3D scaffolds. Preliminary data demonstrated that indeed
BMSCs were viable and were able to proliferate in a model 3D scaffold, i.e. Cytomatrix
scaffold. However, the eventual practical application of BMSCs in such 3D scaffolds
is limited by the low seeding efficiency of the cells within the scaffold. Here, we
demonstrated that the cell seeding efficiency of BMSCs in the Cytomatrix scaffold
can be improved significantly (t-test, p<0.05) by means of macroencapsulating the
scaffold via the complex coacervation of a methylated collagen and terpolymer. The
thickness and density of the polyeletrolyte complex can be modulated by the contact
time between the methylated collagen and terpolymer to balance between cell entrapment
efficacy and mass transfer impedance imparted by the complex. Porcine BMSCs were macroencapsulated
in Cytomatrix scaffolds using various polyelectrolyte contact time and cultured under
both static and dynamic conditions. Throughout the range of contact time investigated,
macroencapsulation did not affect the viability of the porcine BMSCs in dynamic culture.
However, the viability of the cells under static cultures was compromised with longer
polyelectrolyte contact time. Therefore, this proposed method of macroencapsulation
enables customization to achieve enhanced seeding efficiency without mass transfer
impedance for different culture configurations.