Effects of auricular chondrocyte expansion on neocartilage formation in photocrosslinked hyaluronic acid networks

The overall objective of this study was to examine the effects of in vitro expansion on neocartilage formation by auricular chondrocytes photoencapsulated in a hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel as a next step toward the clinical application of tissue engineering therapies for treatment of damaged cartilage. Swine auricular chondrocytes were encapsulated either directly after isolation (p = 0), or after further in vitro expansion (p = 1 and p = 2) in a 2 wt%, 50-kDa HA hydrogel and implanted subcutaneously in the dorsum of nude mice. After 12 weeks, constructs were explanted for mechanical testing and biochemical and immunohistochemical analysis and compared to controls of HA gels alone and native cartilage. The compressive equilibrium moduli of the p = 0 and p = 1 constructs (51.2 +/- 8.0 and 72.5 +/- 35.2 kPa, respectively) were greater than the p = 2 constructs (26.8 +/- 14.9 kPa) and the control HA gel alone (12.3 +/- 1.3 kPa) and comparable to auricular cartilage (35.1 +/- 12.2 kPa). Biochemical analysis showed a general decrease in glycosaminoglycan (GAG), collagen, and elastin content with chondrocyte passage, though no significant differences were found between the p = 0 and p = 1 constructs for any of the analyses. Histological staining showed intense and uniform staining for aggrecan, as well as greater type II collagen versus type I collagen staining in all constructs. Overall, this study illustrates that constructs with the p = 0 and p = 1 auricular chondrocytes produced neocartilage tissue that resembled native auricular cartilage after 12 weeks in vivo. However, these results indicate that further expansion of the chondrocytes (p = 2) can lead to compromised tissue properties.