Type I Collagen-Alginate Composite Hydrogel Promotes Chondrogenesis of Murine Adipose Derived Stromal Cells

INTRODUCTION Alginate hydrogel is an advantageous scaffold material for cartilage tissue engineering because it encapsulates cells homogenously and provides intrinsic porosity. Blending alginate with cell adhesive molecules such as type I collagen to make composite hydrogels can further promote chondrogenenesis of mesenchymal stem cells. However, in these conventional composites, the collagen presumably maintained a soluble monomer form since no steps were taken to allow the monomeric collagen to reassemble into fibrils. A method introduced by Gillette et al. induced the formation of native-like collagen fibrils as well as a 3D collagen network in alginate matrix. Since the reassembled collagen fibrils are known to support chondrogenesis of chondrocytes, we postulated such composite hydrogel containing native-like collagen fibrils might promote the proliferation as well as chondrogenesis of adipose derived stromal cells (ASCs).