[Immunological investigation of repair of articular cartilage defects with allogeneic chondrocytes in porcins].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the immunological reaction and the outcome of allogeneic chondrocyte transplantation in repairing articular cartilage defects in porcins.


METHODS
Full articular cartilage from the knee of two Shanghai white porcins about one-month-old was removed and cut mechanically, digested by 0.25% trypsin and 0.2% type II collagenase and cultured in 10% DMEM medium. Defects of 0.5 cm x 0.5 cm involving the subchodral bone were created in both the left and right femur condyloid in 8 two-month-old Yunnai bama porcins. Allogeneic chondrocyte transplantation were implanted in defects at a density of (1.0-2.0) x 10(6), 0.2 ml. The lymphocytes from the receivers' blood were collected before transplantation and after 3, 5, 7 and 12 weeks of transplantation, then mixed with allogeneic chondrocytes to determin the lymphocyte stimulation index(SI) in vitro. The histological observation in vivo was made after 5, 7 and 24 weeks of transplantation.


RESULTS
Lymphocyte SI at 3, 5, 7 and 12 weeks (1.457 +/- 0.062, 1.739 +/- 0.142, 1.548 +/- 0.047, 1.216 +/- 0.028) after transplantation was higher than that before transplantation (1.102 +/- 0.034, P<0.05). SI began to increase in the 3rd week and reached the peak value in the 5th week, then gradually declined at the 7th and 12th weeks, showing significant differences when compared with in the 5th week (P< 0.05). Inflammation and lymphocytes infiltration could be seen in subchondral bone and the intergration area between repair tissue and normal cartilage in the 5th week, and then decreased and limited in subchondral bone in the 7th week. Defects were filled with cartilage tissue, which had good intergration with subchondral bone at 24 weeks after transplantation.


CONCLUSIONS
Immunological reactions can be found at early stage of allogeneic chondrocyte transplantation and then decreased with the time, the full-thickness articular cartilage defects could be repaired mainly with hyaline cartilage by the allogeneic chondrocyte transplantation. This may provide a new method to repair articular cartilage defects clinically.
Cai
Weiping
W
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200011, PR China.
Tang
Tingting
T
Zhang
Xiaoling
X
D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D017690:Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation*; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000601:surgery*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013552:Swine; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome