PLA-poloxamer/poloxamine copolymers for ligament tissue engineering: sound macromolecular design for degradable scaffolds and MSC differentiation

International audienceThe treatment of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) failures remains a current clinical challenge. Thepresent study aims at providing suitable degradable scaffolds for ligament tissue engineering. First, wefocus on the design and the evaluation of poly(lactide)/poloxamer or poly(lactide)/poloxamine multiblockcopolymers selected and developed to have suitable degradation and mechanical properties to matchACL repair. In the second part, it is shown that the copolymers can be processed in the form ofmicrofibers and scaffolds consisting of a combination of twisted/braided fibers to further modulate themechanical properties and prepare scaffold prototypes suitable for ligament application. Finally, afterassessment of their cytocompatibility, the polymer scaffolds are associated with mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs). MSC differentiation toward a ligament fibroblast phenotype is promoted by a dual stimulationincluding an inductive culture medium and cyclic mechanical loads. RT-qPCR analyses confirm thepotential of our scaffolds and MSCs for ACL regeneration with upregulation of some differentiationmarkers including Scleraxis, Tenascin-C and Tenomodulin