Experimental Study on Cell-free Approach for Articular Cartilage Treatment

Abstract

Cell-free based approaches are introduced as a promising treatment method for articular cartilage. The success of this method requires cell colonisation from resident tissue into cell-free implants. The objective of our study is to promote the cell colonisation into cell-free collagen I based implants by mechanical stimulation. Therefore, a new in vitro cellular model consisting chondrocyte-seeded matrix and cell-free implants was developed in a polydimethylsiloxan (PDMS) mold. These constructs were cultured under dynamic and static culture conditions. For the dynamic culture, we have developed an in-house bioreactor system where both the load and the deformation applied to the specimen are recorded. Cyclic compression, with a strain of 5% and frequency of 0.1 Hz, was applied to constructs without any break. At the end of three days of dynamic and static cultivation, the cell-free implants were seperated from cell-seeded matrix and cultured in a petri dish three days long. Afterwards, they were analysed using fluoresence dyes. The microscopic assessment indicated that there was a cell migration into the cell-free implants which were cultured dynamically.

Keywords

• articular cartilage
• cell-free implants
• collagen
• chondrocyte migration