Biological properties of allogenic articular chondrocytes on the surface of bovine cartilage explants in vitro.
Bovine cartilage explants were co-cultured with or without allogenic chondrocytes for 4 weeks. The attachment of the applied chondrocytes to cartilage after labelling with fluorescence was assessed using a confocal laser microscope. Morphological changes and the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) of co-cultured chondrocytes on intact and damaged surfaces of cartilage were evaluated by histological and immunohistochemical methods. Co-cultured chondrocytes attached to and proliferated on the intact and damaged areas of cartilage, and a new layer was created there. The defects were also filled with ECM produced by the co-cultured chondrocytes. Glycosaminoglycans and collagen type II were detected in the newly formed ECM, and large numbers of rounded chondrocytes were observed at primitive lacunae in this matrix at 4 weeks of culture. The results suggest that chondrocytes have the ability to attach to, to proliferate on and to establish a new matrix on the intact and damaged surfaces of cartilage explants.
Kim
G
G
Laboratory of Veterinary Surgery, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan. vetkim@vetmed.hokudai.ac.jp
Okumura
M
M
Bosnakovski
D
D
Ishiguro
T
T
Kadosawa
T
T
Fujinaga
T
T
D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology*; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D046508:Culture Techniques; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000662:veterinary