DYNAMIC COMPRESSION PROMOTES CARTILAGE-LIKE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES IN MSC-SEEDED HYALURONIC ACID HYDROGELS

摘要

The specialized function of articular cartilage in distributing stresses during normal joint movement must be recapitulated in a successful engineered cartilage repair. Chondrocytes can generate in vitro cartilage constructs with mechanical properties at or near native levels [1-3] when cultured in specialized media formulations. While these advances in chondrocyte-based tissue engineering are highly instructive, the difficulty of obtaining sufficient numbers of healthy autologous chondrocytes represents a considerable challenge.