Ultrasound to activate protein splitting

Researchers in the TriggerINK project in Aachen are studying how a supportive scaffold made of hydrogel ink can be used to stimulate damaged cartilage into regrowing. They’ve now developed a key piece of the puzzle: a biochemical system that enables hydrogels to become harder or more flexible, as needed—and to be moulded into new shapes.

People with osteoarthritis know from bitter experience that damaged cartilage can no longer heal on its own. The result is often chronic pain that worsens over time. This could change, thanks to the TriggerINK project, which receives financing from the Werner Siemens Foundation. Indeed, researchers at DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, Germany, are working on a visionary method to promote cartilage regeneration.

The main feature of their innovative concept is the development of a hydrogel that a 3D printer robot injects directly into damaged cartilage. A hydrogel—or a bio-ink—is a gelatinous substance consisting mainly of water and, to a lesser proportion, of a biocompatible polymer. In the Aachen project, the team’s bio-ink forms a type of scaffold along which the body’s own cartilage tissue can regrow. And the hydrogel is enriched with components that respond to external signals such as heat, vibration or sound in such a way that they promote cell growth.

Now, the researchers in the group led by Andreas Herrmann, scientific director at DWI, have developed a method that will aid in effecting targeted changes in the bio-ink’s properties; for this, they created a new, sophisticated biochemical mechanism. A study conducted in collaboration with a research team from China was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.

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