Tissue Eng Regen Med.  2016 Jun;13(3):235-241. 10.1007/s13770-016-0038-6.

Porous Microcarrier-Enabled Three-Dimensional Culture of Chondrocytes for Cartilage Engineering: A Feasibility Study

• Jin GZ
• Kim HW

• KMID: 2361007
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-016-0038-6

Abstract

Cartilage repair is substantially intractable due to poor self-healing ability. Porous microspheres can be a fascinating three-dimensional matrix for cell culture and injectable carrier in cartilage engineering. In this study, we assessed the feasible use of porous biopolymer microspheres for chondrocyte carriers. When seeded onto the blended biopolymer microspheres and followed by a dynamic spinner flask culture, the chondrocytes showed robust growth behaviors during the culture period. The gene expressions of SOX9, type II collagen, and aggrecan were significantly upregulated after 2-week of culture. Furthermore, immunolocalization of type II collagen and secretion of glycosaminolglycan became prominent. The results suggest the feasible usefulness of the porous microspheres as the cell culture matrix and the subsequent delivery into cartilage defects.

Keyword

Porous microspheres; Blend biopolymer; Chondrocyte; Cartilage engineering

MeSH Terms

Aggrecans
Biopolymers
Cartilage*
Cell Culture Techniques
Chondrocytes*
Collagen Type II
Feasibility Studies*
Gene Expression
Microspheres
Aggrecans
Biopolymers
Collagen Type II