Impact of hyaluronic acid coating of collagen membranes: RNAseq of gingival fibroblasts

Collagen membranes are commonly used biomaterials in clinical dentistry that can be coated with hyaluronic acid (HA). To investigate fibroblast responses, gingival fibroblasts were seeded on porcine-derived membranes originating from dermis (Mucoderm®) and pericardium (Collafleece®) —with or without lyophilized HA, followed by bulk RNA sequencing. Mucoderm® and Collafleece® elicited a significant transcriptional response compared to fibroblasts grown on tissue culture surfaces. Compared to Mucoderm®, Collafleece® increased the expression of extracellular matrix genes CCN1, CCN2, COL1A1, POSTN, SPARC, TAGLN, FBN2, CCDC80 and CREB3L1. Decreased genes included the proteases MMP3 and MMP10 but also detoxifying genes MT1E, MT2A, HMOX1, NQO1. RNA sequencing further revealed that HA coating increased IL24 in Mucoderm®, but no increasing changes was observed in Collafleece®. These data suggest that Collafleece® has a comparably stronger positive impact on extracellular matrix formation by in gingival fibroblast than Mucoderm®. The results further imply that HA coating does consistently impact fibroblast behavior.