Guided differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells on co-cultured cartilage and bone scaffolds

Abstract

Focal chondral defects that result from traumatic injuries to the knee remain one of the most common causes of disability in patients. Current solutions for healing focal cartilage defects are mainly limited by the production of inferior cartilage-like tissue and subsequent delamination due to incomplete healing of the subchondral bone. In this experiment a polymeric osteochondral implant for guiding autologous bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) to populate the scaffold to create distinctive bone and cartilage tissue is used. The cartilage component presents bioactive aligned nanofibers containing chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid while the bone component includes hydroxyapatite to promote chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation of the rat BMSCs in vitro. The different cartilage and bone components resulted in the elevated expression of osteogenic markers such as bone sialoprotein, runt related transcription factor 2, and bone morphogenetic protein 2 in the deeper bone layer and chondrogenic markers such as collagen type II and aggrecan in the cartilage layer. Through immunofluorescence imaging, the alignment of the secreted collagen type II fibrils and aggrecan was visualized and quantified on the cartilage component of the scaffold. These current studies show that the biodegradable biphasic osteochondral implant may be effective in promoting more hyaline-like tissue to fill in chondral defects of the knee.

Recent advances in biomaterials for 3D scaffolds: A review

“…These scaffolds should be fabricated so that to regenerate and mimic both the anatomical structure and function of the original soft tissue to be repaired. Polymers are commonly used biomaterials to construct soft matrices that are widely utilized for the production of most of the transplanted organs such as kidneys and liver [2], but also successfully applied for muscles, tendon [151,152], heart valves, arteries [153], bladder and pancreas [154,155] regeneration.…”

Chondrocyte Apoptosis in the Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis

“…Some transcriptional factors exert functions in both tissues: for example, the Cbfa1 transcriptional factor acts for osteoblast differentiation, as well as chondrocyte maturation, while Cbfβ is essential to maintain cortical thickness through stabilizing Runx2 in osteoblasts and to differentiate chondrocytes through stabilizing Runx2 and Runx3 proteins in the cartilage [ 39 , 40 ]. Thus, some investigators include both articular cartilage and subchondral bone as targets for repairing joint degeneration [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ].…”

Three-dimensional cell cultivation systems

“…Solid scaffolds are used in reconstructive medicine and preclinical in vitro testing of pharmaceutical preparations. In the first case, the cells are grown on carriers for possible in vivo transplantation to replace degenerative or altered tissue (bone, cartilage, ligaments, skin, blood vessels, and muscles) [25][26][27]. In the second case the scaffolds are used for modeling tumors or tissues in laboratory conditions [28].…”