Decoration of RGD-mimetic porous scaffolds with engineered and devitalized extracellular matrix for adipose tissue regeneration

Fat grafting is emerging as a promising alternative to silicon implants in breast reconstruction surgery. Unfortunately, this approach does not provide a proper mechanical support and is affected by drawbacks such as tissue resorption and donor site morbidity. Synthetic scaffolds can offer a valuable alternative to address these challenges, but poorly recapitulate the biochemical stimuli needed for tissue regeneration. Here, we aim at combining the positive features of a structural, synthetic polymer to an engineered, devitalized extracellular matrix (ECM) to generate a hybrid construct that can provide a mix of structural and biological stimuli needed for adipose tissue regeneration. A RGD-mimetic synthetic scaffold OPAAF, designed for soft tissue engineering, was decorated with ECM deposited by human adipose stromal cells (hASCs). The adipoinductive potential of the hybrid ECM-OPAAF construct was validated in vitro, by culture with hASC in a perfusion bioreactor system, and in vivo, by subcutaneous implantation in nude mouse. Our findings demonstrate that the hybrid ECM-OPAAF provides proper mechanical support and adipoinductive stimuli, with potential applicability as off-the-shelf material for adipose tissue reconstruction. (C) 2018 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.