Biomechanical properties of tissue-engineered cartilage from human and rabbit chondrocytes.
OBJECTIVE
To describe tissue-engineered cartilage from rabbit and human chondrocytes.


METHODS
Chondrocytes from rabbit and human ears were seeded onto a template and implanted for 8 or 16 weeks of in vivo incubation.


RESULTS
For the 8-week and 16-week groups, the UTS for cartilage was 3.8 MPa and 3.7 MPa, stiffness was 62.4 MPa and 51.8 MPa, and resilience was 181.8 J/m(3) and 109.1 J/m(3), respectively. Experimental cartilage was significantly different from controls. From 5 human specimens, the UTS was 5.4 MPa, stiffness was 6.6 MPa, and resilience was 2.0 J/m(3). The control had UTS of 8.8 MPa, stiffness of 12.2 MPa, and resilience of 2.9 J/m(3). Histology showed mature cartilage but with a fibrovascular infiltrate and increased cellularity.


CONCLUSIONS
Mechanical properties of tissue-engineered cartilage can be quantified and are less than that of controls.
Park
Stephen S
SS
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. spark@virginia.edu
Chi
David H
DH
Lee
Arnold S
AS
Taylor
S Ray
SR
Iezzoni
Julia C
JC
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D004423:Ear; D006801:Humans; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011817:Rabbits; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting