Hydrogel optimization for cultured elastic chondrocytes seeded onto a polyglycolic acid scaffold

purpose of this study was to compare the effect of different hydrogels on the production of tissue-engineered cartilage based on polyglycolic acid (PGA). Chondrocytes were isolated from adult sheep auricles. Alginate, Type I collagen, methylcellulose, and pluronic F127 hydrogels were evaluated, as were controls prepared without hydrogels. Proliferated chondrocytes were mixed with each hydrogel at 20 X 10(6) cells/mL and seeded onto PGA (1. X 1 X 0.2 cm, n = 60). The constructs were cultured with serum-free medium containing 5 ng/mL TGF-beta(2), and 5 ng/mL des(1-3)IGF-I in rotational bioreactors for up to 6 weeks. The cellular morphology, histology, and biochemistry were analyzed. Type I collagen, methylcellulose, and pluronic F127 displayed improved cartilage matrix deposition in terms of histology and biochemistry compared to alginate. It was not concluded that the combined seeding of chondrocytes and hydrogels on a PGA scaffold had significantly better effects than cell seeding without hydrogels. However, the histology and Other useful findings in this ECM analyses suggested that Type I collagen and MC hydrogels were the best candidates for cartilage regeneration, because of their Stimulation for chondrocyte proliferation in a three-dimensional culture as well as cartilage regeneration. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.