DIFFERENTIAL REGULATION OF ARTICULAR CARTILAGE BIOMECHANICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES BY IGF - 1 AND TGF- 01 DURING IN VITRO GROWTH

摘要

Articular cartilage (AC) is a load bearing material that provides a low friction wear resistant interface in synovial joints. Naturally-occurring and stimulated intrinsic repair of damaged AC is ineffective. Thus, there is a desire to engineer effective replacement tissue that could be used for AC repair. Previous studies [1] have shown that culture of immature cartilage with medium including TGF-pi will result in a more mature tissue than culture with IGF-1. Detailed characterization of tissue mechanical properties would be helpful for development of cartilage growth models [2]The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that IGF-1 and TGF-pi differentially regulate biomechanical and biochemical properties of immature AC during in vitro growth.