Bioengineered three-dimensional physical constructs from quince seed mucilage for human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells

In this study, we aimed at fabricating a novel porous physical construct from quince seed mucilage for translational medicine applications. To achieve this goal, quince seed mucilage was extracted, molded, and freeze-dried. After being freeze-dried, the molded constructs were chemically crosslinked with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide to maintain the mechanical integrity of the structure. The fabricated scaffolds were characterized in-depth by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and dynamic mechanical analysis in addition to the swelling, liquid uptake, and porosity tests. The extraction yield of mucilage was calculated to be 6.28% +/- 0.40% (n = 3). The swelling ratio of crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds was found to be 12,677.50% +/- 388.82% (n = 3), whereas the porosity of crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds was 83.43% +/- 2.84% (n = 3). The analyses confirmed the crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds to be possessed interconnected, highly porous structure. Afterward, human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells were seeded on the crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds, and the cell viability on the scaffolds was assessed with 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The MTT results revealed the scaffolds not to be possessed any cytotoxic effect on seeded cells. Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells adhesion and migration on the crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds were also evaluated histologically using hematoxylin and eosin staining in addition to scanning electron microscopy analysis. In conclusion, we believe that crosslinked quince seed mucilage-derived scaffolds have the potential to be an alternative to routinely used polysaccharides in regenerative medicine applications.