title: Osteochondral regeneration by a bilayered construct in a cell-free or cell-based approach.
abstract: A bilayered construct with or without adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) was applied to repair full-thickness defects in the patellar groove of 18 rabbits. Non-treated and treated defects were divided into three groups: a control group (n = 12), a cell-free group (n = 12) and a cell-based group (n = 12). Histological appearance and grading were evaluated at 8 and 12 weeks. At 12 weeks, osteochondral-like tissues completely filled in the defects and integrated with host tissues in the cell-based group. The semi-quantitative score of the cell-based group (4.2 ± 1.2), which is a total score ranging from 0 (best) to 20 (worst), was significantly better than that of the other two groups (cell-free: 13.8 ± 2.5; control: 10.3 ± 2.4). This finding indicated that the bilayered constructs combined with ASCs could be an effective way to enhance osteochondral regeneration.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Orthopaedics, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People's Republic of China. caozheng_81@163.com
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Shuxun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Daming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiaoning
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Junjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001847:Bone Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D010329:Patella / Q000293:injuries / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*