In vitro precultivation alleviates post-implantation inflammation and enhances development of tissue-engineered tubular cartilage.
Tissue-engineered tubular cartilage is a promising graft for tracheal reconstruction. But polylactic acid/polyglycolic acid (PLA/PGA) fibers, the frequently used scaffolds for cartilage engineering, often elicit an obvious inflammation response following implantation into immunocompetent animals. We propose that the inflammation could be alleviated by in vitro precultivation. In this study, after in vitro culture for either 2 days (direct implantation group (DI)) or for 2 weeks (precultivation implantation group (PI)), autologous tubular chondrocyte-PLA/PGA constructs were subcutaneously implanted into rabbits. In the PI group, after 2 weeks of precultivation, most of the fibers were found to be completely embedded in an extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by the chondrocytes. Importantly, no obvious inflammatory reaction was observed after in vivo implantation and homogeneous cartilage-like tissue was formed with biomechanical properties close to native tracheal cartilage at 4 weeks post-implantation. In the DI group, however, an obvious inflammatory reaction was observed within and around the cell-scaffold constructs at 1 week implantation and only sporadic cartilage islands separated by fibrous tissue were observed at 4 weeks. These results demonstrated that the post-implantation inflammatory reaction could be alleviated by in vitro precultivation, which contributes to the formation of satisfactory tubular cartilage for tracheal reconstruction.
Luo
Xusong
X
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, Shanghai 9th People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, People's Republic of China.
Zhou
Guangdong
G
Liu
Wei
W
Zhang
Wen Jie
WJ
Cen
Lian
L
Cui
Lei
L
Cao
Yilin
Y
D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D007249:Inflammation; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D011091:Polyesters; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D011817:Rabbits; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014132:Trachea / Q000473:pathology*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide)