Transplantation of chondrocytes seeded on collagen‐based scaffold in cartilage defects in rabbits

Abstract

Recent success in tissue engineering by restoring cartilage defects by transplanting autologous chondrocyte cells on a three-dimensional scaffold has prompted the improvement of this therapeutic strategy. Here we describe a new approach investigating the healing of rabbit cartilage by means of autologous chondrocytes seeded on a biomaterial made of an equine collagen type I-based scaffold. Full-thickness defects were created bilaterally in the weight-bearing surface of the medial femoral condyle of both femora of New Zealand male rabbits. The wounds were then repaired by using both chondrocytes seeded on the biomaterial and biomaterial alone. Controls were similarly treated but received either no treatment or implants of the delivery substance. Histological examination of the reconstructed tissues at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after transplantation showed that at 1 and 3 months there was no formation of reconstructed tissue in any of the groups evaluated; after 6 months there was evidence of a newly regenerated tissue with some fibrocartilaginous features only in the group treated with biomaterial-seeded cells, and at 12 months a more organized tissue was evident in the same group. With regards to the group transplanted with biomaterial alone and the untreated control group, there was no evidence of new tissue production. These results advocate the use of this collagen-based scaffold for further in vivo studies on large size animals and, finally, in human clinical trials for the treatment of knee cartilage defects.

BMP‐7 protects against progression of cartilage degeneration after impact injury

“…The synovial fluid sampling intervals in this study were not designed to assess inflammation arising from the injections, but these data indicated a mild, short-lived inflammation that elevated leukocyte concentrations to 6 Â 10 9 /L but fell to within normal limits (<1.0 Â 10 9 /L) 2-4 weeks after injections. Type I collagen is a component of periosteum, a tissue used in cell-based cartilage repair, and type I collagen scaffolds can be used in tissue engineering of cartilage 35 so it may not be deleterious in the synovial environment. Aside from the mild synovial fluid leukocytosis we have no evidence that the collagen carrier created a significant inflammation; however, this would have been difficult to discern in the face of postsurgical injury in group A but readily identifiable in groups B and C, which received the putty formulations sometime later.…”

Tissue engineering: chondrocyte cultures on type I collagen support. Cytohistological and immunohistochemical study

“…Other factors that explain the poor capacity for self-repair of cartilage are: -Low metabolic activity, -Inability of resident chondrocytes to migrate to the defect because of the presence of extracellular matrix, and -Low cellularity [3,6,10].…”

Repair of articular cartilage defects in rabbits through tissue-engineered cartilage constructed with chitosan hydrogel and chondrocytes

“…However, their poor biocompatibility has limited their further application. Natural materials, such as chitosan (Kuo and Lin, 2006), collagen (de Franceschi et al, 2005), and atelocollagen gel (Ochi et al, 2002), have been receiving increasing attention. Among these natural materials, chitosan bioactive scaffold is ideal for cartilage because of its excellent biocompatibility and antibacterial properties.…”