ナノ秒パルスレーザーによる細胞外マトリックスの構築モニター

抄録

There is a new demand in the field of tissue engineering for evaluation technology of extracellular matrix because the extracellular matrix plays an important role in the function of skeletal tissue such as articular cartilage. We previously proposed a noninvasive method of viscoelastic characterization of tissue phantom, based on the photoacoustic measurement. The purpose of this study was to verify the applicability of the photoacoustic measurement method for monitoring of the development of extracellular matrix using tissue engineering technology. The decay times measured by the photoacoustic method were varied with culture periods when tissue-engineered articular cartilages with various culture periods (-12 weeks) were used as samples. Tissue-engineered cartilage cultured for a long period showed shorter decay times, indicating that the samples approached an elastic solid from a rheological viewpoint. By comparison between biochemical analyses and biomechanical studies, we proved that the photoacoustic signal was a good indicator for evaluating extracellular matrix formation because the change of the photoacoustic decay times would reflect the production of an extracellular matrix.