Comprehensive proteomic comparison between native tendon and ligament and 3D tissue engineered tendon and ligament constructs

Tendons and ligaments are important biological structures in both humans and animals. They are part of dense connective tissue and are crucial to the functioning of the musculoskeletal system. However, they are commonly damaged due to age-related wear and tear, trauma or sports related incidents, which can lead to severe immobility for the individual and can lead to injury of other tissues and development of degenerative joint disease such as osteoarthritis. Tissue engineering can offer great potential in the treatment of tendon and ligament injury by seeking a biological replacement with fully regenerated autologenous tissue. This approach commonly involves an artificial ECM (scaffold) on which cell can proliferate and differentiate with subsequent new tissue generation. Fibrin is a natural scaffold with no expected toxic degradation or inflammatory reaction and can be used as an autologous scaffold for fibroblast from connective tissue to create a three dimensional structure. The purpose of this study was to compare the proteomic differences between native tendon, ligament and 3D tissue engineered tendon and ligament fibrin constructs.