Summary: | 碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 生理及分子醫學研究所 === 100 === [Introduction] The self-repaired capability of articular cartilage is limited. It still lacks of satisfactory treatments for cartilage repair. Nowadays, tissue engineering is an alternative way to restore cartilage defects. Our previous in vitro study indicated that HA microenvironment is able to induce chondrogenic differentiation of adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs). In this study, we hypothesize that HA/fibrin/ADSCs construct may be used to enhance the repair of porcine full-thickness chondral defects. The ex-vivo explants osteochondral disc cultures were used to mimic the in vivo study for testing the hypothesis. The animal study was also established for the further test in future.
[Materials and Methods] In the ex-vivo study, we created a chondral defect (diameter: 2mm, depth: 2mm) at the center of isolated osteochondral disc. The construct of HA/fibrin/hADSCs, fibrin/hADSCs, HA/fibrin or fibrin gel was implanted in the defect. The effect of HA/fibrin/hADSCs on the repair of porcine chondral defect was evaluated by histological study, quantitative analysis, and semi-quantitative analysis after 4 weeks. In the in vivo study, a full-thickness chondral defect (diameter: 6 mm) was created in the medial condyle of a minipig. The HA/fibrin/hADSCs was implanted in the defects. The histological changes were evaluated at 12 weeks after surgery.
[Results] In the ex-vivo study, defect in the empty control group was not able to self-repair after 4 weeks culture. The results demonstrated that the HA/fibrin and HA/fibrin/ADSCs groups showed larger amount GAG formation in surrounding tissue compared to the other groups. Moreover, HA/fibrin/hADSCs group had more GAG formation at defect site and better integration with surrounding tissue than the other groups. In the in vivo study, we successfully established full-thickness chondral defect animal model and our preliminary data showed that the defect treated with HA/fibrin/hADSCs had more GAG and type II collagen formation than the empty control did.
[Conclusion] The ex-vivo results demonstrated that HA/fibrin is beneficial in the regeneration of a full-thickness articular cartilage defect in the ADSCs-based tissue engineering. However, more evidence from in vivo study is needed in future.
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