Design and fabrication of a biodegradable, covalently crosslinked shape-memory alginate scaffold for cell and growth factor delivery.

The successful use of transplanted cells and/or growth factors for tissue repair is limited by a significant cell loss and/or rapid growth factor diffusion soon after implantation. Highly porous alginate scaffolds formed with covalent crosslinking have been used to improve cell survival and growth factor release kinetics, but require open-wound surgical procedures for insertion and have not previously been designed to readily degrade in vivo. In this study, a biodegradable, partially crosslinked alginate scaffold with shape-memory properties was fabricated for minimally invasive surgical applications. A mixture of high and low molecular weight partially oxidized alginate modified with RGD peptides was covalently crosslinked using carbodiimide chemistry. The scaffold was compressible 11-fold and returned to its original shape when rehydrated. Scaffold degradation properties in vitro indicated ~85% mass loss by 28 days. The greater than 90% porous scaffolds released the recombinant growth factor insulin-like growth factor-1 over several days in vitro and allowed skeletal muscle cell survival, proliferation, and migration from the scaffold over a 28-day period. The compressible scaffold thus has the potential to be delivered by a minimally invasive technique, and when rehydrated in vivo with cells and/or growth factors, could serve as a temporary delivery vehicle for tissue repair.