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Redifferentiation of dedifferentiated chondrocytes in a novel three‐dimensional microcavitary hydrogel
Author(s) -
Zeng Lei,
Chen Xiaofeng,
Zhang Qing,
Yu Feng,
Li Yuli,
Yao Yongchang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.35309
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , chondrocyte , cartilage , materials science , extracellular matrix , regeneration (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , tissue engineering , matrix (chemical analysis) , in vitro , biomedical engineering , anatomy , biology , composite material , medicine , biochemistry , polymer chemistry
Although chondrocytes exist in native cartilage all over the body, it is still a challenge to use them as therapeutic cells for cartilage tissue engineering (TE) because of their easy dedifferentiation in in vitro culture. An improved culture system to maintain the characteristics of chondrocytes or recover their chondrocytic phenotype should be developed. In this study, we have set up an innovative microcavitary alginate hydrogel in an easy way. We compared this culture system with the conventional hydrogel and found that the microcavitary hydrogel exhibited outstanding superiorities in helping the dedifferentiated chondrocytes recover the capability for synthesizing cartilaginous extracellular matrix. In addition, we explored the correlation between chondrocyte redifferentiation in microcavitary hydrogels and changes in p38 and Erk1/2 activity. Our findings indicated that this microcavitary hydrogel would be a promising culture system to provide sufficient competent cells for cartilage regeneration and TE. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 103A: 1693–1702, 2015.