Repair of the Complete Radial Tear of the Anterior Horn of the Medial Meniscus in Rabbits: A Comparison between Simple Pullout Repair and Pullout Repair with Human Bone Marrow Stem Cell Implantation

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the degree of biological healing response that occurs between the anterior horn of the medial meniscus (MM) and the tibial plateau and investigate the biological healing response after injection of human bone marrow stem cells (hBMSCs) in a rabbit model.Materials and MethodsTwenty-five rabbits with a mean body weight of 2.5 kg were chosen for this study. On the left knee, a complete radial tear was made at the anterior tibial attachment site of MM and after removal of tibial cartilage, pullout repair of the torn MM was performed on the tibial plateau. On the right knee, the same procedure was performed, and a scaff old (matrix gel) that contained human bone marrow stem cell was implanted between MM and the tibial plateau. A biopsy was performed at 2 (group 1), 4 (group 2), and 8 (group 3) weeks postoperatively. The authors compared the differences in the degree of biological healing of each group and investigated the degree of biologic healing after hBMSC implantation by comparing the left knee with the right knee.ResultsOn the biopsy of 40 knees of 20 rabbits that survived after operation, all groups did not show the healing response between the undersurface of MM and the tibial plateau. There was no significant difference in terms of the pathological criteria such as fibroblasts and fibrochondrocytes etc., with and without hBMSC implantation.ConclusionsThere was no attachment between the repaired MM and the tibial plateau after complete radial tear on MM and the authors could not identify the effect of hBMSC.

Biological augmentation to promote meniscus repair: from basic science to clinic application—state of the art

“…Shimomura et al found similar results using a MSC-seeded nanofibrous scaffold constructed to match the meniscus circumferential fibre structure, and they demonstrated a significant decrease in meniscus extrusion following repair 71. Conversely, Hong et al 72 did not find evidence of tissue healing or regeneration with bone marrow stem cell matrix implantation in animal medial meniscus root tears. In another preclinical study by Moriguchi et al ,73 synovial MSCs cultured in monolayers to develop a scaffold-free tissue matrix demonstrated repair of meniscus defects and reduction of chondral degeneration.…”

Safety Studies for Use of Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells in a Rabbit Model for Osteoarthritis to Support a Phase I Clinical Trial

“…Previous studies have shown that transplantation of isolated human amniotic mesenchymal cells [], human bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) [, ], and others [] into rabbit knee joints does not elicit apparent inflammatory responses. However, in our study we observed lymphoplasmacytic infiltration and inflammation in both cohorts.…”

Biological Augmentation and Tissue Engineering Approaches in Meniscus Surgery

“…Desando et al 31 investigated the potential of adipose tissueederived stem cells for meniscus repair, showing that these cells were able to improve healing of cartilage and meniscus defects in a rabbit osteoarthritis model. Finally, although all the studies mentioned point to the potential benefits of stem cell augmentation, in a meniscus pullout suture enhanced with human BMSCs versus simple sutures alone in a rabbit model, Hong et al 32 did not show significantly increased healing in the group treated with suture and cells versus cells alone.…”