Japanese scientists have engineered three dimensional (3D) replacement tendon tissue using fibrin gel. 

Tendons are made of a particularly tough type of connective tissue, which does well under strain but are unlikely to heal if severely injured. Tissue grafts and artificial prostheses can be used but their uses can be limited and alternative tendon repair options are being explored. Two-dimensional cell patterning has been used to create compatible biomaterials but these can only be used on the surface and not the internal region of a 3D construct such as a tendon. 

Now, Takuya Matsumoto and colleagues from Osaka University have created a gel containing 3D patterns of cells similar to tendon tissue, which they say could be an excellent tool to reproduce tendons in vitro. 

Matsumoto cultured cells from bone marrow into biocompatible fibrin gel and stretched it, aligning the growing cells. As the cells grew, they stretched to form lines of fibrin bundles similar to tendon tissue. Varying the amount of strain applied allowed Matsumoto to control how the cells grew and reproduced. 

'The cell and matrix pattern we have achieved will be effective for shortening the regeneration period of tissue' comments Matsumoto. 

Brian Saunders, an expert in biomaterials from the University of Manchester, UK, says 'the use of strain to control the proliferation and differentiation of the cells is clever'. He adds that as a proof of principle this is great work to build on, but there is still some way to go before these materials could be used in the body. 

Next the group want to make a whole tendon tissue in vitro, but as Matsumoto explains, the construction of complex tissues or organs made of multiple cell types is a major challenge, and may take another 5 or 10 years. 

Holly Sheahan 

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