Tissue-engineered cartilage construction by Cultispher microcarrier for articular cartilage repair / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Both Cultispher microcarrier and fibrin can act as carriers in cartilage tissue engineering, but their application is limited by poor mechanical properties and poor plasticity.OBJECTIVE: To combine Cultispher microcarrier carrying chondrocytes with fibrin glue to construct Gultispher/fibrin composite scaffold, and to investigate the effect of this composite scaffold in the articular cartilage repair in a rabbit model. METHODS: Rabbit chondrocyte and Cultispher microcarriers were co-cultured in a stirred bioreactor until the chondrocytes adhered to and proliferated quickly on the microcarrier surface. Chondrocytes-seeded microcarries were then combined with fibrin glue to construct microcarrier/fibrin glue composite scaffolds, to repair trochlear cartilage defects of the knee joint in the rabbit model. In the experiment, three different treatments were respectively done for repair of cartilage defects, including implantation of chondrocytes-seeded microcarries/fibrin glue composite scaffold (MCF group), implantation of Gultispher/fibrin composite scaffold (MF group), and no treatment (blank control group). At 3 and 6 months after surgery, gross observation, histological evaluation, pathological evaluation and Micro-CT scanning were conducted to evaluate the cartilage repair effects. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Gross observation showed that the MCF group achieved better effect on cartilage repair, compared to the other two groups. Histopathological evaluation revealed hyaline-like cartilage tissues in the MCF group while fibrocartilage tissues were seen in the other two groups, shown by safranin O staining and sirius red staining.Micro-CT scanning results showed better subchondral bone remodeling was found in the MCF group than the other two groups. Gross observation and pathological observation showed better outcomes in the MCF group than the MF and blank control groups. To conclude, the chondrocyte-seeded Cultispher microcarrier/fibrin glue composite scaffold succeeds in the articular cartilage repair.