Tendon/Ligament and Enthesis Injuries: Repair and Regeneration

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Regenerative Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 425

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
Interests: musculoskeletal tissue engineering; artificial intelligence; biomaterials; computer vision; microscopy; label-free analysis

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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR,China
Interests: nanobiological materials; biosensing technology; precision theranostics

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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
Interests: macrophage-based therapies for musculoskeletal regeneration; pathologies of challenging musculoskeletal disorders; nanoparticle-based therapy and tissue engineering on musculoskeletal regeneration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tendons and ligaments are crucial for connecting muscles to bones and are prone to injuries, particularly at the bone–tendon junction or enthesis as well as at the mid-tendon/ligament region. This collection presents a range of original research articles and reviews that cover topics on tendon/ligaments and entheses, from fundamental musculoskeletal science to technical advancements in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This collection will cover areas such as the isolation and modification of stem cells and their derivatives including exosomes, the controlled delivery of tendon/ligament bioactive molecules, the characterization and assessment of tendon/ligament and bone–tendon therapeutics including miRNA, mRNA, drugs, and biomaterials, and the development and use of in vitro and in vivo musculoskeletal models, such as tissue-on-a-chip technologies and (patho)physiologically relevant animal models.

Dr. Dai Fei Elmer Ker
Dr. Jingyu Shi
Dr. Bingyang Dai
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • tendon
  • ligament
  • enthesis
  • drug delivery
  • therapeutics
  • biomaterials
  • tissue engineering
  • musculoskeletal animal models

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 1910 KiB  
Article
The Characterization of Serum-Free Media on Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fibrochondrogenesis
by Ka Yu Carissa Kwan, Ke Li, Yu Yang Wang, Wai Yi Tse, Chung Yan Tong, Xu Zhang, Dan Michelle Wang and Dai Fei Elmer Ker
Bioengineering 2025, 12(5), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering12050546 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 264
Abstract
Developing fibrochondrogenic serum-free media is important for regenerating diseased and injured fibrocartilage but no defined protocols exist. Towards this goal, we characterized the effect of four candidate fibrochondrogenic serum-free media containing transforming growth factor beta-3 (TGF-β3), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and fibroblast growth [...] Read more.
Developing fibrochondrogenic serum-free media is important for regenerating diseased and injured fibrocartilage but no defined protocols exist. Towards this goal, we characterized the effect of four candidate fibrochondrogenic serum-free media containing transforming growth factor beta-3 (TGF-β3), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) with high/low glucose and with/without dexamethasone on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) via proliferation and differentiation assays. In Ki67 proliferation assays, serum-free media containing low glucose and dexamethasone exhibited the highest growth. In gene expression assays, serum-free media containing low glucose and commercially available chondrogenic media (COM) induced high fibrochondrogenic transcription factor expression (scleraxis/SCX and SRY-Box Transcription Factor 9/SOX9) and extracellular matrix (ECM) protein levels (aggrecan/ACAN, collagen type I/COL1A1, and collagen type II/COL2A1), respectively. In immunofluorescence staining, serum-free media containing high glucose and COM induced high fibrochondrogenic transcription factor (SCX and SOX9) and ECM protein (COL1A1, COL2A1, and collagen type X/COL10A1) levels, respectively. In cytochemical staining, COM and serum-free media containing dexamethasone showed a high collagen content whereas serum-free media containing high glucose and dexamethasone exhibited high glycosaminoglycan (GAG) levels. Altogether, defined serum-free media containing high glucose exhibited the highest fibrochondrogenic potential. In summary, this work studied conditions conducive for fibrochondrogenesis, which may be further optimized for potential applications in fibrocartilage tissue engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tendon/Ligament and Enthesis Injuries: Repair and Regeneration)
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