Poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) based elastomeric matrices for tendon tissue engineering

Tendon have an important function in transferring force from muscle to bone. Tendon metabolism can change the structural properties according to the applied mechanical forces. The natural healing mechanism after the injuries it is inadequate for the complete repair of tendon tissue. Damage to tendon tissue causes loss of function and severe pain in daily life. In other words, the key to successful tendon tissue development is the provision of a culture medium that mimics the dynamics of the in vivo environment. For this reason, bioreactors are used to create suitable conditions in tendon tissue engineering. The difficulty of using natural grafts in the area of tendon tissue engineering has led researchers to develop biodegradable and biocompatible synthetic based tissue scaffolds. Poly (glycerol sebacate) (PGS) is a biodegradable polymer that is increasingly used in a variety of biomedical applications. This study aimed to show that mechanical stimulation improves progenitor tendon structure and mechanical properties by increasing proliferation of tenosites to PGS scaffolds. The synthesis phase of the PGS-based elastomer is composed of pre-polymerization and curing steps. In the prepolymerization step, the petri dish was weighed at a suitable scale and then placed in a microwave oven (Midea, China). The mixture to be prepolymerized was exposed to microwave radiation in a microwave at 650 W in medium/high setting for 1 minute x 5 times with 10 seconds intervals. In the curing step, a vacuum oven was used for 10,5 hours in order to cross-link the obtained prepolymer liquid (50 mbar, 150 °C). Optimized poly(glycerol-sebacate) scaffolds were cultured and then transferred to a dynamic culture based on a bioreactor from stationary culture. Cell culture studies were carried out for 12 days and examined by characterization methods such as scanning electron microscopy, live/dead staining, GAG/DNA analysis for days 4th, 7th and 12th. In addition, gene expression was examined using the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method.