Cogels of Hyaluronic Acid and Acellular Matrix for Cultivation of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells: Potential Application for Vocal Fold Tissue Engineering

Stem cells based tissue engineering has been one of the potential promising therapies in the research on the repair of tissue diseases including the vocal fold. Decellularized extracellular matrix (DCM) as a promising scaffold has be used widely in tissue engineering; however, it remained to be an important issue in vocal fold regeneration. Here, we applied the hydrogels (hyaluronic acid [HA], HA-collagen [HA-Col], and HA-DCM) to determine the effects of hydrogel on the growth and differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) into superficial lamina propria fibroblasts. hADSCs were isolated and characterized by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The results indicated that HA-DCM hydrogel enhanced cell proliferation and prolonged cell morphology significantly compared to HA and HA-Col hydrogel. Importantly, the differentiation of hADSCs into fibroblasts was also promoted by cogels of HA-Col and HA-DCM significantly. The differentiation of hADSCs towards superficial lamina propria fibroblasts was accelerated by the secretion of HGF, IL-8, and VEGF, the decorin and elastin expression, and the synthesis of chondroitin sulfate significantly. Therefore, the cogel of HA-DCM hydrogel was shown to be outstanding in apparent stimulation of hADSCs proliferation and differentiation to vocal fold fibroblasts through secretion of important growth factors and synthesis of extracellular matrix.