Allograft decalcified bone matrix combined with autologous bone marrow stromal cells for repairing articular cartilage defects in rabbits / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Demineralized bone matrix (DBM) having a great biocompatibility is a common material to repair bone defect in clinic Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) which can differentiate into bone and cartilage cells are ideal for repairing cartilage defect. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of allograft DBM combined with autograft BMSCs on repairing the articular cartilage of rabbits. METHODS: Bone and cartilage defect was induced in 27 rabbits and the models were randomly divided into combined group (DBM combined with 8-day-curtured autograft BMSCs), DBM group (DBM implantation alone), and control group. The reparative tissue samples were evaluated grossly, histologically, and immunohistochemically. The repairing effect was evaluated by Wakitani's score system.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The repaired tissues were hyaline cartilage-shaped, smooth and glossy, and well combined with peripheral cartilage and subchondral tissues at 12 weeks after implantation in the combined group; some tissues were cartilage-likely repaired in the DBM group; a few of tissues were fiber-like repaired in the control group. Immunohistochemical staining showed that type Ⅱ collagen was positive in both combined and DBM groups. Repaired cells which could express type Ⅱ collagen were cartilage cells. However, the expression of type Ⅱ collagen was negative in the control group. At 4,8, and 12 weeks after implantation, the scores in the combined group were significantly higher than in the DBM and control groups (P < 0.01), suggesting that DBM/BMSCs complex could be an efficient graft to repair the articular cartilage defects.