The susceptibility of tenocytes from different ages of donors towards dexamethasone and ascorbic acid can be screened in a microfluidic platform

Hamstring tendon is one of the best graft choices for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The upper age limit of reconstruction is not determined because tenocytes from old individuals have less proliferative ability than young ones. Dexamethasone is commonly used to deal with musculoskeletal disorder with dose-dependent cytotoxicity toward tenocytes. Ascorbic acid is essential for tenocytes culture and collagen secretion and can alleviate the cytotoxicity of dexamethasone. In the current study, a microfluidic platform was used to screen the best dexamethasone and ascorbic acid combination treatment for tenocytes from young and old donors because it has been proven to provide a high throughput analysis platform. Comparison of their proliferation under three concentrations of ascorbic acid and dexamethasone was performed. Tenocytes proliferation among young and old donors was also measured when exposed to nine combinations of ascorbic acid and dexamethasone. The result confirmed the differences in cells proliferation when hamstring tenocytes from different ages of donors are exposed to different concentrations of dexamethasone and ascorbic acid. Tenocytes from old donors are not always more susceptible to dexamethasone and ascorbic acid. An optimal dose of ascorbic acid in decreasing the cytotoxic effect of dexamethasone can be screened by a high throughput microfluidic platform.