Some aspects of the host response to methacrylic acid containing beads in a mouse air pouch

Immunomodulatory biomaterials on chemokine signaling in wound healing

Normal wound healing occurs through a careful orchestration of cytokine and chemokine signaling in response to injury. Chemokines are a small family of chemotactic cytokines that are secreted by immune cells in response to injury and are primarily responsible for recruiting appropriate immune cell types to injured tissue at the appropriate time. Dysregulation of chemokine signaling is suspected to contribute to delayed wound healing and chronic wounds in diseased states. Various biomaterials are being used in the development of new therapeutics for wound healing and our understanding of their effects on chemokine signaling is limited. It has been shown that modifications to the physiochemical properties of biomaterials can affect the body's immune reaction. Studying these effects on chemokine expression by various tissues and cell type can help us develop novel biomaterial therapies. In this review, we summarize the current research available on both natural and synthetic biomaterials and their effects on chemokine signaling in wound healing. In our investigation, we conclude that our knowledge of chemokines is still limited and that many in fact share both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory properties. The predominance of either a pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory profile is mostly likely dependent on timing after injury and exposure to the biomaterial. More research is needed to better understand the interaction and contribution of biomaterials to chemokine activity in wound healing and their immunomodulatory effects.

Injectable and degradable methacrylic acid hydrogel alters macrophage response in skeletal muscle

After severe trauma, skeletal muscle cannot repair itself leading to scar tissue formation and functional impairment. A novel approach to overcome this issue is to alter the fibrotic response in muscle using regenerative biomaterials, such as those containing methacrylic acid (MAA). In the skin, MAA-based materials have been shown to promote wound healing and new vessel formation, through endogenous mechanisms, including macrophage polarization; however, MAA has yet to be studied outside the skin. To study the innate immune response to MAA in skeletal muscle, MAA-poly(ethylene glycol) (MAA-PEG) hydrogels were synthesized with degradation rates of either 2 (fast-degrading) or 7 days (slow-degrading). When injected into the tibialis anterior muscle of mice, both slow- and fast-degrading MAA hydrogels increased the expression of Il-10, Tnfα and M2 macrophage markers (Fizz1 and Arg for slow-and fast-degrading, respectively). Moreover, the slow degrading MAA hydrogel decreased the number of pro-inflammatory MHCII+ macrophages. An unbiased t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (tSNE) analysis suggested the involvement of other immune cells beyond just macrophages in the effect of MAA on skeletal muscle. Overall, this study shows that MAA hydrogels bias macrophages towards a pro-regenerative phenotype.

The role of insulin growth factor-1 on the vascular regenerative effect of MAA coated disks and macrophage-endothelial cell crosstalk

The IGF-1 signaling pathway and IGF-1-dependent macrophage/endothelial cell crosstalk was found to be critical features of the vascular regenerative effect displayed by implanted methacrylic acid -co-isodecyl acrylate (MAA-co-IDA; 40% MAA) coated disks in CD1 mice. Inhibition of IGF-1 signaling using AG1024 an IGF1-R tyrosine kinase inhibitor abrogated vessel formation 14 days after disk implantation in a subcutaneous pocket. Explanted tissue had increased arginase 1 expression and reduced iNOS expression consistent with the greater shift from "M1" ("pro-inflammatory") macrophages to "M2" ("pro-angiogenic") macrophages for MAA coated disks relative to control MM (methyl methacrylate-co-IDA) disks; the latter did not generate a vascular response and the polarization shift was muted with AG1024. In vitro, medium conditioned by macrophages (both human dTHP1 cells and mouse bone marrow derived macrophages) had elevated IGF-1 mRNA and protein levels, while the cells had reduced IGF1-R but elevated IGFBP-3 mRNA levels. These cells also had reduced iNOS and elevated Arg1 expression, consistent with the in vivo polarization results, including the inhibitory effects of AG1024. On the other hand, HUVEC exposed to dTHP1 conditioned medium migrated and proliferated faster suggesting that the primary target of the macrophage released IGF-1 was endothelial cells. Although further investigation is warranted, IGF-1 appears to be a key feature underpinning the observed vascularization. Why MAA based materials have this effect remains to be defined, however.

Effect of methacrylic acid beads on the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway and macrophage polarization in a subcutaneous injection mouse model

Poly(methacrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate) (MAA) beads promote a vascular regenerative response when used in diabetic wound healing. Previous studies reported that MAA beads modulated the expression of sonic hedgehog (Shh) and inflammation related genes in diabetic wounds. The aim of this work was to follow up on these observations in a subcutaneous injection model to study the host response in the absence of the confounding factors of diabetic wound healing. In this model, MAA beads improved vascularization in healthy mice of both sexes compared to control poly(methyl methacrylate) (MM) beads, with a stronger effect seen in males than females. MAA-induced vessels were perfusable, as evidenced from the CLARITY-processed images. In Shh-Cre-eGFP/Ptch1-LacZ non-diabetic transgenic mice, the increased vessel formation was accompanied by a higher density of cells expressing GFP (Shh) and β-Gal (patched 1, Ptch1) suggesting MAA enhanced the activation of the Shh pathway. Ptch1 is the Shh receptor and a target of the pathway. MAA beads also modulated the inflammatory cell infiltrate in CD1 mice: more neutrophils and more macrophages were noted with MAA relative to MM beads at days 1 and 7, respectively. In addition, MAA beads biased macrophages towards a MHCII-CD206+ ("M2") polarization state. This study suggests that the Shh pathway and an altered inflammatory response are two elements of the complex mechanism whereby MAA-based biomaterials effect vascular regeneration.

Cell Interactions with Vascular Regenerative MAA-Based Materials in the Context of Wound Healing

In diabetic patients the development of chronic non-healing wounds is a common complication. A methacrylic acid-based biomaterial is a vascular regenerative material that enhances diabetic healing without the use of cells or growth factors. The bioactive nature of this material is thought to be associated with its anionic charge or surface chemistry. Contact between the methacrylic acid-based biomaterial and tissue begins with protein (including complement) adsorption and is followed by interaction of the biomaterial with resident and infiltrating cells in the wound bed (e.g., macrophages and endothelial cells). This results in changes to their surface receptors to activate phosphorylation cascades that lead to differential activation of signalling pathways such as those involving osteopontin and sonic hedgehog. These changes modulate the phenotype of the cells in the wound bed, eventually improving vessel formation and wound healing. Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms will have broad implications for biomaterials, not just the methacrylic acid-based material, and will facilitate the advancement of regenerative biomaterials for diverse applications.

Interaction of a block-co-polymeric biomaterial with immunoglobulin G modulates human monocytes towards a non-inflammatory phenotype

Monocyte interactions with implanted biomaterials can contribute significantly to the ability of a biomaterial to support tissue integration and wound healing, as opposed to a chronic pro-inflammatory foreign body reaction, provided the materials are designed to do so. However, there are few biomaterials available designed to regulate immune cell response with the intention of reducing the pro-inflammatory activation state. Material chemistry is a powerful tool for regulating protein and cell interactions that can be incorporated into surfaces while maintaining desired mechanical properties. The aspects of material chemistry that can support monocyte activation away from a pro-inflammatory state are still poorly understood. Protein adsorption is a key initial event that transforms the surface of a biomedical device into a biological substrate that will govern subsequent cellular interactions. In this study, the chemistry of degradable block polyurethanes, termed degradable polar hydrophobic ionic (D-PHI) polyurethanes, were studied for their unique interactions with bound immunoglobulin G (IgG), a pro-inflammatory protein that supports monocyte-biomaterial interactions. The specific immunological active sites of the polyurethane-adsorbed protein were compared with IgG's adsorbed state on a homopolymeric material with surface chemistry conducive to cell interactions, e.g. tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). IgG-coated TCPS supported sustained monocyte adhesion and enhanced monocyte spreading, effects not observed with IgG-coated PU. The degradable PU was subsequently shown to reduce the number of exposed IgG-Fab sites following pre-adsorption vs. IgG adsorbed to TCPS, with antibody inhibition experiments demonstrating that Fab-site exposure appears to dominate monocyte-biomaterial interactions. Minor changes in chemical segments within the PU molecular chains were subsequently investigated for their influence on directing IgG interactions towards reducing pro-inflammatory activity. A reduction in chemical heterogeneity within the PU, without significant differences in other material properties known to regulate monocyte response, was shown to increase Fab exposure and subsequently led to monocyte interactions similar to those observed for IgG-coated TCPS. These results infer that reduced IgG-Fab site exposure can be directed by material chemistry to attenuate pro-inflammatory monocyte interactions with biomaterial surfaces, and identify the chemical features of polymeric biomaterial design responsible for this process.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

There is currently limited understanding of material design features that can regulate protein-material interactions in order to prevent adverse inflammatory responses to implanted biomaterials. In this paper, monocyte interactions with biomaterials (specifically a block co-polymeric degradable polyurethane [D-PHI] and tissue culture polystyrene [TCPS]) were investigated as a function of their interactions with adsorbed immunoglobulin G (IgG). D-PHI was shown to attenuate IgG-induced monocyte retention and spreading by reducing IgG-Fab site exposure upon adsorption relative to TCPS. Aspects of D-PHI chemistry important in regulating Fab site exposure were determined. This study thus identifies features of biomaterials, using D-PHI as a case study, which can contribute to the development of new immunomodulatory biomaterial design.