Alginate is a highly tailorable, biocompatible polymer whose properties can be tuned to mimic the properties of native nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue. Platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) is a highly accessible, inexpensive, and readily available mix of pro‐regenerative factors. By functionalizing alginate with PRP, a mechanically optimized, bioactive alginate NP analogue may stimulate NP cells to proliferate and accumulate matrix over a longer period of time than if the PRP were solely encapsulated within the hydrogel. In this study, PRP was chemically bound to alginate using carbodiimide chemistry and mechanically, physically, and cytologically compared to plain alginate as well as alginate containing free‐floating lyophilized PRP. The alginates were mechanically and physically characterized; PRP‐conjugated alginate had similar mechanical properties to controls and had the benefit of retained PRP proteins within the hydrogel. Human nucleus pulposus cells (hNPCs) were seeded within the modified alginates and cultured for 14 days. Quantification data of glycosaminoglycans suggests that PRP‐incorporated alginate has the potential to increase ECM production within the characterized alginate constructs, and that PRP‐functionalized alginate can retain protein within the hydrogel over time. This is the first study to functionalize the milieu of PRP proteins onto alginate and characterize the mechanical and physical properties of the modified alginates. This study also incorporates hNPCs into the characterized PRP‐modified alginates to observe phenotypic maintenance when encapsulated within the in situ gelling constructs.

中文翻译：

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通过碳二亚胺化学生物结合富含血小板的血浆和藻酸盐，用于注射水凝胶疗法。

海藻酸盐是一种高度可定制、生物相容的聚合物，可以调整其特性以模拟天然髓核 (NP) 组织的特性。富含血小板的血浆 (PRP) 是一种易于获取、价格低廉且易于获得的促再生因子组合。通过用 PRP 功能化海藻酸盐，机械优化的生物活性海藻酸盐 NP 类似物可以刺激 NP 细胞在更长的时间内增殖和积累基质，而不是将 PRP 单独封装在水凝胶中。在这项研究中，与普通海藻酸盐以及含有自由漂浮的冻干 PRP 的海藻酸盐相比，PRP 使用碳二亚胺化学与海藻酸盐化学结合，并在机械、物理和细胞学上进行了比较。对海藻酸盐进行机械和物理表征；PRP 结合的藻酸盐具有与对照相似的机械性能，并且具有在水凝胶内保留 PRP 蛋白的好处。将人髓核细胞 (hNPC) 接种在改良的海藻酸盐中并培养 14 天。糖胺聚糖的定量数据表明，掺入 PRP 的海藻酸盐有可能增加表征海藻酸盐结构中 ECM 的产生，并且 PRP 功能化的海藻酸盐可以随着时间的推移将蛋白质保留在水凝胶中。这是第一项将 PRP 蛋白环境功能化到海藻酸盐上并表征改性海藻酸盐的机械和物理特性的研究。该研究还将 hNPCs 加入到表征过的 PRP 修饰的海藻酸盐中，以观察封装在原位凝胶结构中时的表型维持。