title: Transplantation of chondrocytes seeded on collagen-based scaffold in cartilage defects in rabbits.
abstract: Recent success in tissue engineering by restoring cartilage defects by transplanting autologous chondrocyte cells on a three-dimensional scaffold has prompted the improvement of this therapeutic strategy. Here we describe a new approach investigating the healing of rabbit cartilage by means of autologous chondrocytes seeded on a biomaterial made of an equine collagen type I-based scaffold. Full-thickness defects were created bilaterally in the weight-bearing surface of the medial femoral condyle of both femora of New Zealand male rabbits. The wounds were then repaired by using both chondrocytes seeded on the biomaterial and biomaterial alone. Controls were similarly treated but received either no treatment or implants of the delivery substance. Histological examination of the reconstructed tissues at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after transplantation showed that at 1 and 3 months there was no formation of reconstructed tissue in any of the groups evaluated; after 6 months there was evidence of a newly regenerated tissue with some fibrocartilaginous features only in the group treated with biomaterial-seeded cells, and at 12 months a more organized tissue was evident in the same group. With regards to the group transplanted with biomaterial alone and the untreated control group, there was no evidence of new tissue production. These results advocate the use of this collagen-based scaffold for further in vivo studies on large size animals and, finally, in human clinical trials for the treatment of knee cartilage defects.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Immunologia e Genetica, Istituto di Ricerca Codivilla-Putti, Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli, via di Barbiano 1/10, 40136 Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Franceschi
authors.forename: Brunella
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grigolo
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roseti
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Facchini
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fini
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giavaresi
authors.forename: Matilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tschon
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giardino
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology*; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000637:transplantation*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D011817:Rabbits