The cellular origin of cartilage-like tissue after periosteal transplantation of full-thickness articular cartilage defects: an experimental study using transgenic rats expressing green fluorescent protein.
BACKGROUND
Periosteal transplantation is commonly used for the treatment of articular cartilage defects. However, the cellular origin of the regenerated tissue after periosteal transplantation has not been well defined. The objective of this study was to investigate the cellular origin of the regenerated tissue after periosteal transplantation.


METHODS
Free periosteum was harvested from the tibia of 10-week-old adolescent enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP-) expressing transgenic Sprague Dawley (SD) rats and was transplanted to full-thickness articular cartilage defects of the patellar groove in normal 10-week-old adolescent SD rats. The periosteum was sutured to the defect with the cambium layer facing the joint cavity. 8 SD rats were killed at 4 weeks and 8 SD rats were killed at 8 weeks after surgery. The repaired tissue was assessed histologically and histochemically. GFP-positive cells derived from the donor periosteum could easily be detected in the repaired tissue by use of a fluorescent microscope.


RESULTS
At both 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation, the entire area of the defects had been repaired, with the regenerated tissue being well stained histologically with safranin-O. Most cells in the whole area of the regenerated tissue were GFP-positive, indicating that very few of the cells were GFP-negative cells originating from the recipient rats.


CONCLUSIONS
This experiment demonstrates that most cells in regenerated tissue after periosteal transplantation using adolescent animals do not originate from recipient cells but from the periosteal cells of the donor.
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan. shinomi@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Rikuo
R
Shinomiya
Mitsuo
M
Ochi
Nobuo
N
Adachi
Hiroki
H
Hachisuka
Koji
K
Natsu
Yuji
Y
Yasunaga
D000818:Animals; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010521:Periosteum / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins