Tribological Maturation of Regenerated Cartilage was Inhibited by Using Chondrocyte Aggregates

Abstract

Cartilage tissue was regenerated using fibroin sponge seeded with chondrocyte aggregates. The aggregates were formed on the sponge by micro-folding culture, where chondrocytes were cultured on a substrate containing an array of pits of 100 μm diameter. The aggregate-derived cartilage tissue showed higher safranin O staining intensity and was positive for collagen type II by immunostaining. However, its friction coefficient was higher than that of the cartilage tissue regenerated using individual cells. Moreover, the surface of this aggregate-derived cartilage tissue showed weak positive staining for collagen type I. Thus, regeneration of the aggregate-derived cartilage tissue has the possibility of forming larger amounts of extracellular matrix from a limited number of chondrocytes. However, such tissue showed relatively poor tribological function possibly because of its immature functional layer structure.

Keywords

• fibroin sponge
• cartilage
• chondrocyte
• cell aggregate
• friction test