The progressive degeneration of articular cartilage or osteoarthritis of the knee is a serious clinical problem affecting patient quality of life. In recent years, artificially engineered cartilage scaffolds have been widely studied as a promising method to stimulate cartilage regeneration. In this study, a novel biomimetic cartilage scaffold was developed by integrating a cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment with prolonged release of bioactive factors. Specifically, a surface of 3D printed hydrogel scaffold with drug-loaded nanoparticles was treated with CAP. Our results showed that the scaffolds with CAP treatment can improve hydrophilicity as well as surface nano-roughness and can thus facilitate stem cell adhesion. More importantly, this study demonstrated that integrating CAP treatment with drug-loaded nanoparticles can synergistically enhance chondrogenesis of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells when compared to control scaffolds. The results in this study indicate the great potential of applying CAP and drug-loaded nanoparticles into 3D printed tissue scaffolds for promoting cartilage regeneration.

膝盖的关节软骨或骨关节炎的进行性退化是影响患者生活质量的严重临床问题。近年来，作为刺激软骨再生的有前途的方法，人工工程化的软骨支架已被广泛研究。在这项研究中，通过将冷大气血浆（CAP）处理与生物活性因子的延长释放相结合，开发了一种新型的仿生软骨支架。具体地，用CAP处理具有载药纳米颗粒的3D打印水凝胶支架的表面。我们的结果表明，经CAP处理的支架可以改善亲水性以及表面纳米粗糙度，从而促进干细胞粘附。更重要的是，这项研究表明，与对照支架相比，将CAP治疗与载有药物的纳米颗粒相结合可以协同增强人骨髓间充质干细胞的软骨形成。这项研究的结果表明，将CAP和载有药物的纳米颗粒应用于3D打印的组织支架中具有促进软骨再生的巨大潜力。