title: A preclinical evaluation of an autologous living hyaline-like cartilaginous graft for articular cartilage repair: a pilot study.
abstract: In this pilot study, an autologous synthetic scaffold-free construct with hyaline quality, termed living hyaline cartilaginous graft (LhCG), was applied for treating cartilage lesions. Implantation of autologous LhCG was done at load-bearing regions of the knees in skeletally mature mini-pigs for 6 months. Over the course of this study, significant radiographical improvement in LhCG treated sites was observed via magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, macroscopic repair was effected by LhCG at endpoint. Microscopic inspection revealed that LhCG engraftment restored cartilage thickness, promoted integration with surrounding native cartilage, produced abundant cartilage-specific matrix molecules, and re-established an intact superficial tangential zone. Importantly, the repair efficacy of LhCG was quantitatively shown to be comparable to native, unaffected cartilage in terms of biochemical composition and biomechanical properties. There were no complications related to the donor site of cartilage biopsy. Collectively, these results imply that LhCG engraftment may be a viable approach for articular cartilage repair.
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peck
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Geetha Soujanya V N
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Chilla
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Chueh Loo
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Poh
authors.affiliation: Division of Bioengineering, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 637457, Singapore.
authors.forename: Dong-An
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006818:Hyalin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D051457:Hyaline Cartilage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000637:transplantation*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011859:Radiography; D013552:Swine; D013556:Swine, Miniature; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014945:Wound Healing