title: Immunological response to tissue-engineered cartilage derived from auricular chondrocytes and a PLLA scaffold in transgenic mice.
abstract: The immune response against biomaterials in tissue-engineered constructs could potentially worsen the outcome of tissue regeneration, but immunological reactions between host and donor in tissue-engineered constructs remain to be clarified. In the present study, we syngenically transplanted tissue-engineered cartilage constructs consisting of C57BL/6 mice auricular chondrocytes and poly-l-lactic acid scaffolds (MW:200,000) into EGFP transgenic mice of C57BL/6 background, and evaluated the response by the localization of donor-derived and host-derived cells, the latter of which were distinguished by the presence of EGFP. While donor-derived cells constituted the areas of regenerated cartilage, host-derived cells were increased in number for the initial two weeks, and then decreased and excluded to non-cartilage areas thereafter. Furthermore, EGFP positivity was mostly co-localized with that of F4/80, suggesting most of the host-derived cells in the tissue-engineered constructs could be macrophages. Immunohistochemical staining of the tissue-engineered cartilage constructs revealed expression of factors related to immune privilege in chondrocytes, such as macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), fas ligand (FasL) and others. Co-culture of chondrocytes and macrophages in vitro increased the expression of MIF and FasL in the chondrocytes, suggesting that chondrocytes in tissue-engineered cartilage constructs could regulate the actions of host-derived macrophages by expressing factors related to immune privilege.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cartilage and Bone Regeneration (Fujisoft), Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujihara
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takato
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoshi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D021522:Bioartificial Organs; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002356:Cartilage / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D054644:Ear Auricle / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011091:Polyesters; D011108:Polymers; D019344:Lactic Acid; C033616:poly(lactide)