Mechanical properties of elastin hydrogels and its application to biomaterials for spinal ligament repair

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K12675
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 90110:Biomedical engineering-related
• Research Institution: Kindai University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Ei 近畿大学, 生物理工学部, 教授 (00309270)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: バイオメカニクス / エラスチン / 生体軟組織 / 靭帯 / 力学的特性 / 生体適合性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Elastin and collagen are main extracellular matrix in biological soft tissues such as ligaments, arteries, and skins. Collagen is widely used in various application fields including cosmetics, health foods, and biomaterials. Due to the difficulty to obtain pure ingredient, however, only a few basic and applied studies have been conducted on elastin and it has not rarely used in the biomedical field. Our overall goal is to develop a new strategy to repair or regenerate the damage of biological soft tissues. For this goal, we investigated the mechanical properties and biocompatibility of elastin materials made of fish bulbus arteriosus in the present study. We conducted mechanical loading tests for elastin materials. Moreover, fibroblasts were cultured on the material surface coated by elastin. From these experiments, the basic data on the deformability and cytotoxicity are available for the elastin materials. These data are essential to used elastin as biomaterials or cell scaffolds.

Free Research Field

バイオメカニクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

エラスチンの生化学的，分子生物学的，および生体力学的な基礎特性に関しても未解明な部分が多く残されており，バイオメディカル分野への応用も全く進展していない．エラスチンを含有する材料の作製方法を確立し，作製した材料の力学的特性を定量的に評価する研究はこれまでに行われておらず，その基礎科学的価値が高いだけでなく，水分を多く含む生体軟組織の再生用材料の開発などの生体医工学的応用へと繋がっていくものと予想できる．さらなる波及効果として，より発症頻度の高い腰痛などの整形外科学的疾患の予防，対処方法の改良に対しても，エラスチンに着目した本研究の結果を発展させていくことが可能であると推察される．