The enhancement of chondrogenesis of ATDC5 cells in RGD-immobilized microcavitary alginate hydrogels

In our previous work, we have developed an effective microcavitary alginate hydrogel for proliferation of chondrocytes and maintenance of chondrocytic phenotype. In present work, we investigated whether microcavitary alginate hydrogel could promote the chondrogenesis of progenitor cells. Moreover, we attempted to further optimize this system by incorporating synthetic Arg-Gly-Asp peptide. ATDC5 cells were seeded into microcavitary alginate hydrogel with or without Arg-Gly-Asp immobilization. Cell Counting Kit-8 and live/dead staining were conducted to analyze cell proliferation. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), hematoxylin and eosin, and Toluidine blue O staining as well as Western blot assay was performed to evaluate the cartilaginous markers at transcriptional level and at protein level, respectively. The obtained data demonstrated that Arg-Gly-Asp-immobilized microcavitary alginate hydrogel was preferable to promote the cell proliferation. Also, Arg-Gly-Asp-immobilized microcavitary alginate hydrogel improved the expression of chondrocytic genes including Collagen II and Aggrecan when compared with microcavitary alginate hydrogel. The results suggested that microcavitary alginate hydrogel could promote the chondrogenesis. And Arg-Gly-Asp would be promising to ameliorate this culture system for cartilage tissue engineering.