Lithium silicate-based bioceramics promoting chondrocyte maturation by immunomodulating M2 macrophage polarization
Dong Zhai, Lei Chen, Yu Chen, Yufang Zhu, Yin Xiao, Chengtie Wu
Abstract
, LCS) to prepare scaffolds and explore whether LCS scaffolds could promote cartilage maturation by regulating macrophage polarization. It was found that LCS induced the shifting of macrophages to anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype by downregulating the expressions of inflammatory genes TNFα, IL-6 and IL-1β and promoting the expression of IL-10 genes. The conditioned medium from LCS-treated macrophages promoted the proliferation, migration and maturation of chondrocytes. In a chondrocyte and macrophage co-culture system, LCS scaffolds induced chondrocyte maturation. These results demonstrated that LCS significantly promoted chondrocyte maturation by immunomodulating the M2 macrophage polarization. Hence, LCS scaffolds have great potential in cartilage repair, indicating that bioceramics may be used in cartilage regeneration due to their immunomodulatory effects on macrophages.