One of the main components of tissue engineering applications for regeneration of damaged tissue or organs are natural scaffolds as well as synthetic
ones. ε-Polycaprolactone (ε-PCL) is a preferred soluble polymer scaffold for its low melting temperature (59-64°C) and hydrophilic surface that
facilitates the attachment of cells. In recent years in vivo and in vitro studies showed that natural scaffold made up of egg white has been shown to mimic
the extracellular matrix (ECM) and support and increase the proliferation of somatic cells. The aim of this study is to develop a three-dimensional (3D)
cell culture model by comparing the interaction between adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs) and ε-PCL and egg white scaffold
polymerized by heat. In our experiments; CM-DiI labeled AD-MSCs were cultured for 12 days on polymerized egg white scaffold prepared at 60°C.
Microscopic examinations were performed using reverse phase contrast microscope under UV light. MTT analyses were carried out on days 3, 6, 9 and
12. Results showed that the number of AD-MSCs on egg white scaffold increased periodically and cell connections were clearly observed. Although
the number of AD-MSCs on ε-PCL scaffold increased until the 6th day of culture, the cell number and cell connections were decreased between day 6
and day 12. The results were statistically evaluated by ANOVA and Student's t-test (p<0.05). These results showed that egg white scaffold increases and
protects cell adhesion and cell viability for longer than ε-PCL scaffold, thus it can be used as a scaffold in tissue engineering studies using stem cells.
Author(s): Olga N. Oztel, Adil Allahverdiyev, Melahat Bagirova, and Hilal Topta?