Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells and polycaprolactone/hydroxyapatite (PCL/HA) scaffold for bone tissue engineering

Abstract : Polycaprolactone ( PCL ) is a suitable polymer in the field of drug delivery and tissue engineering scaffolds. Therefore, this study aimed to design a Polycaprolactone /Nano hydroxyapatite ( PCL/nHA10% ) hybrid nanofiber scaffold and evaluate differentiation of Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells ( WJ-MSCs ) to osteogenic lineage on scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Materials and Methods: In this study, PCL/nHA(10%) composite polymeric nano scaffolds were prepared by electrospinning. Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from the Warton’s Jelly and cultured in the PCL/nHA 10% scaffold. Biocompatibility of scaffolds was confirmed by MTT assay. Characterization of umbilical cord mesencymal stem cells were performed using flow cytometry. The morphological and cell adhesion characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the scaffolds were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging. Finally, the cells were treated with osteogenic differentiation medium for 21 days to investigate their differentiation potential on the scaffolds and then differentiated cells were stained with alizarin red and von Kossa stains. Results: The largest pore size of PCL/nHA (10%) nanofibers was about 22 µm. The culture of WJ-MSCs on the scaffolds showed that the addition of nHA 10% to PCL scaffold caused further attachment and proliferation of the cells. The stained mineral deposit scaffold with alizarin red and von Kossa were also compared. In both types of staining, nano-composite scaffold showed higher calcium deposits. The results showed that the PCL/nHA 10% scaffolds for bone tissue engineering is a good choice, and can be used for bone tissue repair.