Article
L-arginine ethyl ester like arginine strongly enhanced proliferation of endothelial cells – preparation of an arginine ethyl ester-releasing biomaterial for supporting neovascularisation in tissue engineering
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Authors
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Nora Emilie Paul
- Universitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Hand- und Verbrennungschirurgie, Aachen
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Robert Lösel
- RWTH Aachen, Institut für Technische und Makromolekulare Chemie, Aachen
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Daniela Goy
- Universitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Hand- und Verbrennungschirurgie, Aachen
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Karsten Hemmrich
- Universitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Hand- und Verbrennungschirurgie, Aachen
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Doris Klee
- RWTH Aachen, Institut für Technische und Makromolekulare Chemie, Aachen
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Norbert Pallua
- Universitätsklinikum der RWTH Aachen, Klinik für Plastische Chirurgie, Hand- und Verbrennungschirurgie, Aachen
| Published: | May 20, 2011 |
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Outline
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Introduction: Consistent shortcomings of current tissue engineering attempts are the absence of neovascularisation within the construct resulting in cell necrosis and tissue loss. Coculturing of target tissue cells with endothelial cells could overcome the neovascularisation problem by supporting the formation of new vessels. Promoting sufficient proliferation of these cells by disposing angiogenic factors into the scaffold seems to be a promising approach. L-arginine – the physiological precursor of nitric oxide – appears as an appropriate angiogenic mediator for promoting neovascularisation in tissue engineering. Since arginine is not soluble in organic solvents and thus, cannot be incorporated into commonly used polymers we tested the angiogenic potency of its ethyl ester.
Materials and methods: We cultivated adipose tissue-derived endothelial cells and preadipocytes, respectively, in arginine-free medium supplemented with 25, 100, and 500 μg/ml L-arginine or L-arginine ethyl ester, and assayed the proliferation rate as well as the degree of adipogenic conversion. Additionally, we prepared arginine ethyl ester-releasing poly(D,L-lactide) foils, and investigated their impact on endothelial cell proliferation.
Results: Here, we demonstrated that arginine ethyl ester like arginine significantly increased the proliferation of endothelial cells and preadipocytes without inhibiting an induced adipogenic conversion of the preadipocytes. Further, we could show that incorporated arginine ethyl ester was released from poly(D, L-lactide) foils into the medium, and significantly increased endothelial cell growth.
Conclusion: In summary, the present data are helpful guidance for generating arginine ethyl ester-releasing biomaterials that promote endothelial cell growth, and thereby could support neovascularisation within tissue engineering approaches. Since the induced adipogenic conversion of preadipocytes was not impaired the arginine ethyl ester-releasing foils are an appropriate biomaterial for adipose tissue engineering.
