Journal article
Development of Macroporous Chitosan Scaffolds for Eyelid Tarsus Tissue Engineering
Michelle T Sun, Andrea J O’Connor, Imogen Milne, Dhee Biswas, Robert Casson, John Wood, Dinesh Selva
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine | Springer Science and Business Media LLC | Published : 2019
Abstract
Background: Reconstruction of large eyelid defects remains challenging due to the lack of suitable eyelid tarsus tissue substitutes. We aimed to evaluate a novel bioengineered chitosan scaffold for use as an eyelid tarsus substitute. Methods: Three-dimensional macroporous chitosan hydrogel scaffold were produced via cryogelation with specific biomechanical properties designed to directly match characteristics of native eyelid tarsus tissue. Scaffolds were characterized by confocal microscopy and tensile mechanical testing. To optimise biocompatibility, human eyelid skin fibroblasts were cultured from biopsy-sized samples of fresh eyelid skin. Immunological and gene expression analysis inclu..
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