Premium
Sizable Scaffold‐Free Tissue‐Engineered Articular Cartilage Construct for Cartilage Defect Repair
Author(s) -
Park InSu,
Jin Ri Long,
Oh Hyun Ju,
Truong MinhDung,
Choi Byung Hyune,
Park SangHyug,
Park Do Young,
Min ByoungHyun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
artificial organs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.684
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1525-1594
pISSN - 0160-564X
DOI - 10.1111/aor.13329
Subject(s) - cartilage , fibrocartilage , hyaline cartilage , scaffold , tissue engineering , extracellular matrix , anatomy , matrix (chemical analysis) , type ii collagen , in vitro , chemistry , in vivo , biomedical engineering , chondrogenesis , pathology , articular cartilage , medicine , osteoarthritis , biology , biochemistry , alternative medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , chromatography
This study introduces an implantable scaffold‐free cartilage tissue construct (SF) that is composed of chondrocytes and their self‐produced extracellular matrix (ECM). Chondrocytes were grown in vitro for up to 5 weeks and subjected to various assays at different time points (1, 7, 21, and 35 days). For in vivo implantation, full‐thickness defects ( n = 5) were manually created on the trochlear groove of the both knees of rabbits (16‐week old) and 3 week‐cultured SF construct was implanted as an allograft for a month. The left knee defects were implanted with 1, 7, and 21 days in vitro cultured scaffold‐free engineered cartilages. (group 2, 3, and 4, respectively). The maturity of the engineered cartilages was evaluated by histological, chemical and mechanical assays. The repair of damaged cartilages was also evaluated by gross images and histological observations at 4, 8, and 12 weeks postsurgery. Although defect of groups 1, 2, and 3 were repaired with fibrocartilage tissues, group 4 (21 days) showed hyaline cartilage in the histological observation. In particular, mature matrix and columnar organization of chondrocytes and highly expressed type II collagen were observed only in 21 days in vitro cultured SF cartilage (group 4) at 12 weeks. As a conclusion, cartilage repair with maturation was recapitulated when implanted the 21 day in vitro cultured scaffold‐free engineered cartilage. When implanting tissue‐engineered cartilage, the maturity of the cartilage tissue along with the cultivation period can affect the cartilage repair.