Chitosan-hyaluronan: promotion of mucociliary differentiation of respiratory epithelial cells and development of olfactory receptor neurons

Developing a biomaterial that promotes regeneration of both respiratory epithelium (RE) and olfactory neuroepithelium (ON) improves the surgical outcome of endoscopic sinus surgery. Although chitosan (CS) inhibits mucociliary differentiation of RE, it has been reported to regenerate ON. In addition, hyaluronic acid (HA) has been demonstrated to promote regeneration of RE. Whether the composite CS+HA would simultaneously benefit RE and ON remains unexplored. Human nasal respiratory epithelial cells (RECs) and olfactory neuroepithelial cells (ONCs) are respectively obtained from the RE and the ON. They are cultured in vitro and divided into groups undergoing four treatments, control, CS, HA, and CS+HA and assessed by scanning electron microscope, immunocytochemistry, and Western blots following indicated growth conditions. RECs keep polygonal morphology with mucociliary differentiation in the CS+HA group. The levels of E-cadherin, zonula occludens-1, mucin 5AC, and forkhead box protein J1 are significantly higher in the CS+HA group than in the CS alone group. In addition, ONCs express lower cytokeratin 18 (CK18) and higher olfactory marker protein (OMP) in the CS+HA group than in HA alone group. ONCs express more signal transduction apparatuses, adenylate cyclase 3, in CS and CS+HA groups than in HA and controls. Chitosan-hyaluronan plays a part in promoting differentiation of ORNs and facilitating mucociliary differentiation of RECs. This composite is a promising biomaterial for the sinonasal application.