| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 生物醫學工程學系 === 100 === Treatments for osteochondral lesions have been worldly explored but most outcomes resulted in fibrous tissue regeneration. In our study, we investigated whether endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) not only increase angiogenesis and but also promote osteogenesis and chondrogenesis as hypothesized. Poly-lactic-glycolic acid (PLGA) scaffold was designed to provide temporary mechanical support in the early recovery and keep implanted autologous EPCs as a carrier during implantation. In this study, a defect hole of 3mm in diameter and 3mm in depth was created on the medial femoral condyle of the rabbit. EPCs seeded PLGA scaffold (EPC-PLGA group) were implanted and compared with PLGA scaffold (PLGA group) implantation and empty defect (ED group) with no treatments in this rabbit model.
Histological results at 4 weeks showed that the presence of EPCs do speed up the early recovery with a better microenvironment containing more cytokines such as MMP-13, TGFβ2, and TGFβ-3 confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. Within the stable development, the osteochondral regenerative regions in EPC-PLGA group present similar compositions and morphologies as normal articular cartilage while ED group and PLGA group present fibrous-tissue-like results. Bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV) ratio obtained by micro-CT of EPC-PLGA group is higher than ED group and PLGA group at 12 weeks. In particular the BV/TV ratio in EPC-PLGA group is similar to the Sham group. The thickness of trabecular bone (Tb.Th) was obviously higher from 4 week time point to 12 week time point, quantified values of all groups at 12 weeks are higher than the Sham group which demonstrate the regenerative regions were still under recovery and longer time of observation are needed in the future study.
In summary, this study successfully proposes a promising solution for osteochondral regeneration by implanting EPC-PLGA scaffold.
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