Abstract Cartilage injury is difficult to self-heal due to avascular microenvironment and special mechanical properties. These features challenge the design of tissue engineered cartilage and repairing effect. In this study, a supramolecular-polymer double network (DN) hydrogel was designed to estimate the cartilage regeneration capability. This consisted of self-assembly of peptides supramolecular networks and covalent polymer networks together, and the designed hydrogel demonstrated excellent mechanical properties with Young's modulus of ~209 kPa, the compression limit of it was >70%, the toughness was ~47 kJ m−3 and associated with fast recovery in seconds. Compared with single network hydrogel, this DN hydrogel exhibited better performance in cell viability and differentiation. A rabbit model of cartilage defect was employed to verify the effect of treatment as proof of principle. After 12 weeks' in vivo study, the cartilage defects were repaired significantly by biomimetic DN hydrogel. The native cartilage-like extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell arrangement were observed in the regenerated tissues. We anticipated that this hydrogel design might be a promising solution in artificial engineering of cartilage and other elastic tissues due to its excellent elasticity, toughness, fast recovery, stress unloading properties, and cartilage regenerative capability.

中文翻译：

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用于软骨再生的仿生超分子聚合物双网络水凝胶的生物制造

摘要 由于无血管微环境和特殊的力学特性，软骨损伤难以自愈。这些特征对组织工程软骨的设计和修复效果提出了挑战。在这项研究中，设计了一种超分子聚合物双网络 (DN) 水凝胶来评估软骨再生能力。这包括肽超分子网络和共价聚合物网络的自组装，设计的水凝胶表现出优异的机械性能，杨氏模量~209 kPa，压缩极限>70%，韧性~47 kJ m− 3 并与在几秒钟内快速恢复相关联。与单网络水凝胶相比，这种 DN 水凝胶在细胞活力和分化方面表现出更好的性能。采用兔软骨缺损模型验证治疗效果，作为原理证明。经过12周的体内研究，仿生DN水凝胶显着修复了软骨缺损。在再生组织中观察到天然软骨样细胞外基质（ECM）和细胞排列。我们预计这种水凝胶设计可能是软骨和其他弹性组织人工工程的有前途的解决方案，因为它具有出色的弹性、韧性、快速恢复、应力卸载特性和软骨再生能力。在再生组织中观察到天然软骨样细胞外基质（ECM）和细胞排列。我们预计这种水凝胶设计可能是软骨和其他弹性组织人工工程的有前途的解决方案，因为它具有出色的弹性、韧性、快速恢复、应力卸载特性和软骨再生能力。在再生组织中观察到天然软骨样细胞外基质（ECM）和细胞排列。我们预计这种水凝胶设计可能是软骨和其他弹性组织人工工程的一个有前途的解决方案，因为它具有优异的弹性、韧性、快速恢复、应力卸载特性和软骨再生能力。