Chondroitin sulfate based biomaterials for tissue engineering
Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a sulfated glycosaminoglycan (GAG) that is usually found attached to proteins as part of a proteoglycan. The use of CS based biomaterials in the field of tissue engineering applications has been intensively growing over the past decades because CS is a biopolymer with the major advantages of being biodegradable, biocompatible, easily available, and highly versatile. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that CS based biomaterials upregulate cartilage specific gene expression in chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells and also support osteogenic differentiation by increasing the effectiveness of bone anabolic growth factors. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan plays a key role during the acute recovery stage after spinal cord injury by activating microglia/macrophages and modulating neurotrophic factor secretion. In addition, CS based materials promote the wound healing process and stimulate the regeneration of skin defects. Moreover, CS can be used to construct high toughness gels by having a double network structure. Taken together, CS based biomaterials would be a useful material for successful replacement and regeneration of damaged cartilage, bone, skin, and neural tissues.