title: Self-assembly of fibrochondrocytes and chondrocytes for tissue engineering of the knee meniscus.
abstract: Chondrocyte self-assembly in high-density scaffoldless culture has shown success in producing articular cartilage constructs, and a similar process could be applied to fibrocartilage tissue engineering. Three cell combinations were compared in self-assembly culture-100% chondrocytes, 100% meniscal fibrochondrocytes, and 50:50 co-cultures of fibrochondrocytes and chondrocytes with the goal of creating a proteoglycan, collagen I, and collagen II matrix similar to native meniscus. Two culture surfaces were also compared for self-assembly: agarose-coated wells and tissue culture plastic. After 4 weeks, the resulting self-assembled chondrocyte constructs were 10.24+/-0.63 mm in diameter and 0.96+/-0.14 mm thick, weighing 84.5+/-7.2 mg. Co-culture constructs were smaller and weighed 22.5+/-1.0 mg. In contrast, the fibrochondrocyte constructs contracted into spheres weighing 1.3+/-0.3 mg. Immunostaining showed collagen II in the chondrocyte constructs, both collagen I and collagen II in the co-cultures, and only collagen I in the fibrochondrocyte constructs. Collagen densities for chondrocyte, co-culture, and fibrochondrocyte constructs were 41+/-3, 38+/-3, and 20+/-2 microg/mg dry weight, and glycosaminoglycan densities were 230+/-2, 80+/-6, and 10+/-1 microg/mg dry weight, respectively. Self-assembled co-cultures, with their mixed collagen I and II matrix and robust gross characteristics, appear promising for tissue engineering of the knee meniscus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: Gwendolyn M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hoben
authors.forename: Jerry C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Regis A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: James
authors.forename: Kyriacos A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Athanasiou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021522:Bioartificial Organs; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology*; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008297:Male; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins