Construction of tissue-engineered cartilage with cross-linked sodium hyaluronate as scaffold materials in vitro / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Tissue engineering provides new ideas and approaches for repair of cartilage defects. OBJECTIVE:To develop a complete set of solutions for construction of tissue engineered cartilagein vitro, with chondrocytes as seed cels and cross-linked sodium hyaluronate as scaffold materials. METHODS: New Zealand rabbit articular chondrocytes were isolated, counted, and then cultured and passaged to prepare cellsuspension. Toluidine blue staining, RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry were exerted to evaluate the cultured cels. Chondrocytes were seeded and co-cultured with cross-linked sodium hyaluronate scaffold for 21 days. Then, RNA was isolated for RT-PCR, and frozen sections were prepared for morphological observation and immunohistochemistry study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The chondrocytes could adhere to the cross-linked sodium hyaluronate scaffold and aggregate, growing between fibers or adhering to the scaffold in a monolayer manner. The transcripts of cartilage specific aggrecan gene and colagen type II alpha 1 gene and cartilage specific protein colagen type II were expressed in cel-scaffold complexes to maintain the phenotype of chondrocytes. Cel-scaffold complexes co-cultured in vitro can form cartilage extracelular matrix, by which tissue engineered cartilage is expected to be obtained.