IntroductionWe have developed an implant-type tissue-engineered cartilage using a poly-l-lactide scaffold. In a clinical study, it was inserted into subcutaneous areas of nasal dorsum in three patients, to correct cleft lip–nose deformity. The aim of this study was to helping evaluation on the efficacy of the regenerative cartilage.Methods3D data of nasal shapes were compared between before and after surgery in computed tomography (CT) images. Morphological and qualitative changes of transplants in the body were also evaluated on MRI, for one year.ResultsThe 3D data from CT images showed effective augmentation (>2 mm) of nasal dorsum in almost whole length, observed on the medial line of faces. It was maintained by 1 year post-surgery in all patients, while affected curves of nasal dorsum was not detected throughout the observation period. In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the images of transplanted cartilage had been observed until 1 year post-surgery. Those images were seemingly not straight when viewed from the longitudinal plain, and may have shown gentle adaptation to the surrounding nasal bones and alar cartilage tissues.ConclusionThose findings suggested the potential efficacy of this cartilage on improvement of cleft lip–nose deformity. A clinical trial is now being performed for industrialization.

No abstract

For regenerative medicine, clarification of in vivo migration of transplanted cells is an important task to secure the safety of transplanted tissue. We had prepared tissue-engineered cartilage consisting of cultured chondrocytes with collagen hydrogel and a biodegradable porous polymer, and we clinically applied it for treatment of craniofacial anomaly. To verify the safety of this tissue-engineered cartilage, we had syngenically transplanted the tissue-engineered cartilage using chondrocytes harvested from EGFP-transgenic mice into subcutaneous pocket of wild type mice, and investigated localizations of transplanted chondrocytes in various organs including cerebrum, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, auricle, gastrocnemius, and femur. After 8 to 24 weeks of the transplantation, accumulation of cartilaginous matrices was observed in tissue-engineered cartilage, while EGFP-positive transplanted chondrocytes were localized in this area. Otherwise, no EGFP was immunohistochemically detected in each organ, suggesting that subcutaneously-transplanted chondrocytes do not migrate to other organs through the circulation. In cartilage tissue engineering using cultured chondrocytes, risk for migration and circulation of transplanted cells seemed negligible, and that ectopic growth of the cells was unlikely to occur, showing that this is safe technique with regard to the in vivo migration of transplanted cells.