Ascorbic Acid Enhances the Metabolic Activity, Growth and Collagen Production of Human Dermal Fibroblasts Growing in Three-dimensional (3D) Culture

Year 2023, Volume: 36 Issue: 4, 1625 - 1637, 01.12.2023

Serkan Dikici

https://doi.org/10.35378/gujs.1040277

Cited By: 2

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) enables the development of functional synthetic substitutes to be replaced with damaged tissues and organs instead of the use of auto or allografts. A wide range of biomaterials is currently in use as TE scaffolds. Among these materials, naturally sourced ones are favorable due to being highly biocompatible and supporting cell growth and function, whereas synthetic ones are advantageous because of the high tunability on mechanical and physical properties as well as being easy to process. Alongside the advantages of synthetic polymers, they mostly show hydrophobic behavior that limits biomaterial-cell interaction and, consequently, the functioning of the developed TE constructs. In this study, we assessed the impact of L-Ascorbic acid 2-phosphate (AA2P) on improving the culture conditions of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) growing on a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold made of polycaprolactone (PCL) using emulsion templating. Our results demonstrated that AA2P enhances the metabolic activity and growth of HDFs as well as collagen deposition by them when supplemented in their growth medium at 50 µg/mL concentration. It showed a great potential to be used as a growth medium supplement to circumvent the disadvantages of culturing human cells on a synthetic biomaterial that is not favored in default. AA2P's potential to improve cell growth and collagen deposition may prove an effective way to culture human cells on 3D PCL PolyHIPE scaffolds for various TE applications.

Keywords

L-ascorbic acid, Human dermal fibroblasts, Emulsion templating, 3D culture, Polycaprolactone

Supporting Institution

Izmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) Research Foundation

Project Number

2021IYTE-1-0057

Thanks

This study was financially supported by a grant from the Izmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) Research Foundation (grant no: 2021IYTE-1-0057). I gratefully thank Dr Betül Aldemir for her technical assistance on the fabrication of PCL PolyHIPE scaffolds and Sirius Red staining protocol.

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