Gellan gum/tannic acid hydrogels for cartilage repair: the versatile role of tannic acid as green crosslinker conferring antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties

[EN] A novel hydrogel, containing two gellan gums with different acyl content crosslinked with tannic acid and magnesium ions, was proposed as cartilage substitute. In addition to crosslinking, tannic acid was employed as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound. The analytical characterization...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Busto, Francesco, Scalia, Alessandro C., Toniolo, Sofia, Cometa, Stefania, Liotino, Stefano, Cochis, Andrea, Mastrorilli, Piero, De Giglio, Elvira, Gentile, Piergiorgio
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2025
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositório:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/226178
Acesso em linha:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/226178
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Gellan gum
Tannic acid
Hydrogel
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-bacterial
Chondrogenesis
Descrição
Resumo:[EN] A novel hydrogel, containing two gellan gums with different acyl content crosslinked with tannic acid and magnesium ions, was proposed as cartilage substitute. In addition to crosslinking, tannic acid was employed as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compound. The analytical characterization of the hydrogel revealed that the interaction between carbohydrates and tannic acid consisted of hydrogen bonds. The hydrogel showed satisfactory mechanical performances (compressive Young's modulus up to 188 +/- 12 kPa, and strain at break up to 55.3 +/- 1.5 %). The biological results demonstrated that tannic acid-loaded hydrogels were cytocompatible and significantly enhanced the genetic expression of key chondrogenic markers (Collagen type 2 and SRY-Box Transcription Factor 9), showing up-regulation of similar to 30- and 14-fold under physiological conditions, and similar to 6- and 3-fold under pro-inflammatory conditions of oxidative stress, compared to the unloaded hydrogels. Moreover, the intrinsic ability of tannic acid to bind pro-inflammatory active species under oxidative stress imparted the scaffold with immunomodulatory properties, as shown by the upregulation of the anti-inflammatory genes Interlukin-10 and Interferon-gamma. Finally, tannic acid reported bactericidal and anti-biofilm activity, achieving a bacterial load reduction of over 90 % when hydrogels were infected with Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, this research highlights the multiple bioactivity of the gellan gum/tannic acid hydrogel for cartilage regeneration.