Abstract:
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Fibrin has been proposed as cell scaffold for
numerous tissue engineering applications. While most of
the studies have focused on fibrinogen and thrombin, other
components of fibrin can also affect its properties. The
present study aimed to evaluate the effects of buffer solu-
tion composition on fibrin biophysical properties. Fibrin
scaffolds were synthesized with different calcium, chlo-
ride, and factor XIII (FXIII) final concentrations. Light
transmission was determined as a relative, semi-quantita-
tive estimator of fiber structure differences, and two com-
positions, resulting in translucent and opaque gels, were
tested for mechanical and biological properties. Gels were
seeded with mouse mesenchymal cells, C3H10T1/2, or
bovine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells
and cultured up to 10 or 24 days, before cell number,
morphology and distribution were evaluated. Calcium
increased gel opacity (i.e., fiber thickness), while chloride
and FXIII decreased it. Opaque gels displayed a fluid-like
viscous behavior while translucent gels showed improved
elastic properties. Both compositions supported survival of
both cell types with opaque gels leading to better prolif-
eration, but significant scaffold shrinkage after 17 days of
culture. These results demonstrated that calcium, chloride,
and FXIII modulate the biophysical properties of fibrin,
and can be used to adjust mechanical and biological
properties for tissue engineering applications |