Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 34.6.
Grossview(
left
)andcross-sectionalview(
right
)ofrepaired
articular cartilage defects (arrowheads indicate the repaired defects).
(Reprinted by permission from Ref. 8).
cartilage at a non-weight-bearing area was harvested from the knee
joint of one side to isolate chondrocytes. On the other side, an 8 mm
full-thickness articular cartilage defect deep in the underlying can-
cellous bone was created on both weight-bearing areas of medial
andlateralfemoralcondyles.Theisolatedchondrocytesweremixed
with 30% Pluronic F127 (BASF, Mount Oliver, NJ) at a final concen-
tration of 5
10
7
cells/mL at 4
◦
C. A 0.6 mL aliquot of cell-Pluronic
solution was then mixed with 60 mg of PGA (Albany International
Research, Albany, NY) and stored at 4
◦
C until use. After the creation
of the defect, the cell-scaffold construct containing PGA, Pluronic
solution, and chondrocytes was then used to repair the defects in
theexperimentalgroup.Inthecontrolgroup,thedefectswereeither
repairedwithscaffoldmaterialaloneorleftunrepaired.Grossly,car-
tilagetissuewasformedinthedefectofexperimentalgroupasearly
as 4 weeks postrepair. Histological examination demonstrated the
presence of hyaline cartilage tissue. At 24 weeks postrepair, gross
examination revealed a complete repair of the defect by engineered
cartilage, shown by a smooth articular surface indistinguishable
fromnearbynormalcartilage.Acrosssectionshowedanidealinter-
face healing between the engineered cartilage and the adjacent nor-
mal cartilage (Fig. 34.6).
Histology of the tissue harvested from repaired defects further
revealedatypicalstructureofcartilagelacunaandanidealinterface
healingtoadjacentnormalcartilage,aswellastounderlyingcancel-
lousbone(Fig.34.7).
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