Articular cartilage repair
Inventors
Estes, Bradley T. • Moutos, Franklin Thomas • Guilak, Farshid
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11109975-B2
Publication Date
2021-09-07
Expiration Date
Abstract
A scaffold is provided which facilitates integration of both bone and cartilage at an osteochondral lesion, thereby acting as a tissue engineered interface or tissue engineered junction between the two different tissues. The method and systems for engineering this interface may be acellular or may be loaded with cells prior to use.
Core Innovation
The disclosure addresses osteochondral interface repair for implantation within an osteochondral lesion. It provides a moldable biocompatible three-dimensional woven fiber scaffold constructed of a plurality of layers of woven fibers adapted to allow integration of tissue from the cartilage surface and bone surface upon implantation. The scaffold includes an upper cartilage layer and a lower osteogenic layer that define different pore sizes, with the second pore size greater than the first pore size.
A key structural aspect is the orientation of fibers in orthogonal directions within the scaffold. At least one first layer includes fibers oriented in an x-direction, at least one second layer includes fibers oriented in a y-direction that is orthogonal to the x-direction, and at least one fiber is oriented in a z-direction that is orthogonal to both x and y. The z-oriented fibers connect the x- and y-oriented layers to form an osteochondral interface repair implant with an integrated layered architecture.
The scaffold is further made structurally stable by configuring yarns to be locked into a physical conformation with respect to one another after molding, such that the scaffold is structurally stable. At least a portion of the fibers can be coated with an inorganic matrix selected from hydroxyapatite, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, alumina, zirconia, yttria-stabilized zirconia, silicon nitride-based materials, bioactive glass, and/or glass ceramics.
Claims Coverage
The document provides two independent claims, each centered on an osteochondral interface repair implant having a moldable biocompatible three-dimensional woven fiber scaffold with orthogonal x/y/z fiber orientation, z-fiber interconnection, locked yarn structural stability after molding, and an upper cartilage layer with a smaller pore size than a lower osteogenic layer.
Moldable biocompatible three-dimensional woven fiber scaffold with cartilage- and bone-side integration
A moldable biocompatible three-dimensional woven fiber scaffold constructed of a plurality of layers of woven fibers adapted to allow integration of tissue from the cartilage surface and bone surface upon implantation.
Orthogonal x-/y-/z-oriented fiber layers connected by z-oriented fibers
The plurality of layers of woven fibers includes at least one first layer made of fibers oriented in an x-direction, at least one second layer made of fibers oriented in a y-direction orthogonal to the x-direction, and at least one fiber oriented in a z-direction orthogonal to both the x-direction and the y-direction, wherein the first and second layers are connected by the z-oriented fiber.
Inorganic matrix-coated fibers
At least a portion of the fibers are coated with an inorganic matrix from the group consisting of hydroxyapatite, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, alumina, zirconia, yttria-stabilized zirconia, silicon nitride-based materials, bioactive glass, and/or glass ceramics.
Locked yarn physical conformation for structural stability after molding
The yarns of all of the fibers of the three-dimensional fiber scaffold are configured to be locked into a physical conformation with respect to one another after being molded such that the scaffold is structurally stable.
Upper cartilage layer with smaller first pore size and lower osteogenic layer with larger second pore size
The plurality of layers includes an upper cartilage layer including a first plurality of layers defining a first pore size and a lower osteogenic layer including a second plurality of layers defining a second pore size greater than the first pore size.
Across the independent claims, the core coverage is for an osteochondral interface repair implant using a moldable biocompatible three-dimensional woven fiber scaffold with orthogonal x/y/z fiber orientation and z-oriented fibers connecting layers, where yarns are locked into a stable physical conformation after molding and the scaffold is region-differentiated into an upper cartilage layer with a smaller pore size and a lower osteogenic layer with a larger pore size. In one independent claim, fibers are additionally coated with specified inorganic matrices.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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