In vivo cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract

BackgroundBiologic treatment options for cartilage injuries require chondrocyte expansion using cell culture. Clinical application is accomplished in two surgical sessions and is expensive. If isolation of chondrocytes and stimulus for proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis can be achieved in vivo, the treatment can be performed in one session and the cost can be reduced.MethodsA 2.5-cm diameter full-thickness chondral defect was created in the knees of five groups of sheep. In one group, some of the chondral tissues obtained from the creation of the defect were diced into small pieces and were placed into the defect and were covered with a collagen membrane (MIV group). In the other group, the collagen membrane was soaked in collagenase prior to usage. In the next group, the collagen membrane was soaked in both collagenase and growth factors. Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation (MACI) was applied to another group in two sessions, and the last group was left untreated. After 15 weeks of follow-up, repair tissues were compared macroscopically, histomorphometrically, and biochemically for tissue concentrations of glycosaminoglycan and type II collagen.ResultsMACI and MIV groups demonstrated better healing than others and were similar. Addition of collagenase or growth factors did not improve the results. Addition of collagenase did not have detrimental effect on the surrounding cartilage.ConclusionsWith the described method, it is possible to obtain comparable results with MACI. Further studies are also needed to see if it works similarly in humans.

Cartilage regeneration with dual‐drug‐releasing injectable hydrogel/microparticle system: In vitro and in vivo study

“…Within 3 months, the ICRS scores in Groups 2 and 3 compared to the Group 1 showed significant improvements in all scores except for the cell distribution score. Within 6 months, the evaluation of the ICRS scores showed that the Groups 2 and 3 had significantly higher scores than the Group 1 on all scores (Figure 8; Chen et al, 2018; Gurer, Cabuk, Karakus, Yilmaz & Yilmaz, 2018). H&E staining showed that Groups 3 and 2 had more chondrocyte like cells in the renewed space with cartilage cavity (Figure 9a–f).…”

Increased migratory activity and cartilage regeneration by superficial-zone chondrocytes in enzymatically treated cartilage explants

“…A few in vivo animal studies assessed the effects of collagenase treatment on cartilage repair. Gurer et al tried to enhance cartilage regeneration in the knees of sheep by using collagen membrane soaked with collagenase [ 25 ]. Sueyoshi et al revealed that collagenase treatment was effective on cubic micro-cartilage to expand cartilage regeneration capacity in ear cartilage tissue engineering [ 26 ].…”

Potential and recent advances of microcarriers in repairing cartilage defects

“…Most TE technology for treating articular cartilage defects requires opening the joint cavity to place a biological scaffold, which inevitably causes great damage to the surrounding tissues of the joint [ 77 ]. However, due to its unique size advantage, microcarriers can be localized to cartilage defect sites that contain biologically active microtissues or seed cells by injection, which can reduce trauma caused by large-scale incisions [ [78] , [79] , [80] ].…”