Effects of press-fit biphasic (collagen and HA/βTCP) scaffold with cell-based therapy on cartilage and subchondral bone repair knee defect in rabbits

摘要

Introduction Human spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SPONK) is still challenging as the current treatments do not allow the production of hyaline cartilage tissue. The aim of the present study was to explore the therapeutic potential of cartilage regeneration using a new biphasic scaffold (type I collagen/hydroxyapatite) previously loaded or not with concentrated bone marrow cells. Material and methods Female rabbits were operated of one knee to create articular lesions of the trochlea (three holes of 4?×?4mm). The holes were left empty in the control group or were filled with the scaffold alone or the scaffold previously loaded with concentrated bone marrow cells. After two?months, rabbits were sacrificed and the structure of the newly formed tissues were evaluated by macroscopic, MRI, and immunohistochemistry analyses. Results Macroscopic and MRI evaluation of the knees did not show differences between the three groups ( p ?>?0.05). However, histological analysis demonstrated that a higher O’Driscoll score was obtained in the two groups treated with the scaffold, as compared to the control group ( p ? ?0.05) but subchondral bone repair was significantly thicker in scaffold-treated groups than in the control group (1?mm for the control group vs 2.1 and 2.6?mm for scaffold groups). Furthermore, we observed that scaffolds previously loaded with concentrated bone marrow were more reabsorbed ( p ?