壳聚糖在喉软骨组织工程中的应用

Application of Chitosan in Laryngeal Cartilage Tissue Engineering

喉癌、喉狭窄、外伤等引起的喉软骨缺损是耳鼻咽喉科常见的损伤,喉软骨的修复重建是临床面临的重大挑战。软骨因无血管和淋巴,自身修复及再生能力差,目前尚未能重建出持久的喉软骨组织来替代受损的喉软骨。组织工程的兴起给喉软骨重建带来新的契机,其关键在于设计合适的支架材料以负载种子细胞和生长因子,促进喉软骨再生,以实现喉软骨修复重建。壳聚糖材料具有良好的生物相容性,可诱导软骨细胞附着、增殖,易于塑形,生物降解速率可调控,已广泛应用于组织工程研究。本文总结了喉软骨的结构特点、壳聚糖的特性,以及壳聚糖在软骨组织工程中的应用,以探索壳聚糖在喉软骨组织工程中应用的可能性。

[Summary] The repair and reconstruction of laryngeal cartilage defects caused by laryngeal cancer, stenosis, trauma is a major challenge of the Otolaryngology. Due to the absence of blood vessel and lymph, the cartilage has poor ability to repair or regenerate itself once damaged. Little is reported on the enduring cartilaginous tissue to replace damaged laryngeal cartilages. The rise of tissue engineering offers new opportunities for laryngeal cartilage reconstruction. It is critical to develop appropriate scaffold materials to support cell adhesion, proliferation and neocartilage regeneration so as to repair laryngeal cartilage. Chitosan possesses excellent biocompatibility, the ability to induce chondrocyte adhesion, proliferation and differentiation, flexibility to process, and controllable biodegradation rate. It has been one of the most promising biomaterials for cartilage tissue engineering. However, little has been reported on the application of chitosan in the laryngeal cartilage tissue engineering. This review summarized the characteristics of laryngeal cartilage and updated chitosan-based materials for cartilage tissue engineering. Based on these, possible application of chitosan based materials for the laryngeal cartilage tissue engineering was discussed.