[A experimental study on arthroscopic auricular cartilage transplantation for repair of osteochondral defect of temporomandibular joint(TMJ)].
OBJECTIVE
To study the feasibility and resurfacing ability of auricular cartilage transplantation for osteochondral defect of TMJ.


METHODS
Arthroscopic auricular cartilage transplantations were undertaken in 12 rhesus monkeys(24 joints) to repair the osteochondral defects in TMJs. The repaired tissues were examined by gross examination, light microscope and immunohistochemistry(IHC) 4 weeks,8 weeks,12 weeks and 24 weeks postoperatively.


RESULTS
The defects were repaired 8 weeks after operation. As time goes on, the chondrocytes in defects declined and fibroblast increased at the same time. The IHC showed slight positive stain of type II collagen.


CONCLUSIONS
The osteochondral defects of TMJ can be restored by autologous auricular cartilage. The nature of repaired tissue was fibrocartilage like tissue at first and then fibrotic tissue.
Yang
C
C
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200011, China.
Wang
X D
XD
Qiu
W L
WL
Cai
X Y
XY
Ha
Q
Q