A novel MSC‐seeded triphasic construct for the repair of osteochondral defects

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are increasingly replacing chondrocytes in tissue engineering based research for treatment of osteochondral defects. The aim of this work was to determine whether repair of critical-size chronic osteochondral defects in an ovine model using MSC-seeded triphasic constructs would show results comparable to osteochondral autografting (OATS). Triphasic implants were engineered using a beta-tricalcium phosphate osseous phase, an intermediate activated plasma phase, and a collagen I hydrogel chondral phase. Autologous MSCs were used to seed the implants, with chondrogenic predifferentiation of the cells used in the cartilage phase. Osteochondral defects of 4.0 mm diameter were created bilaterally in ovine knees (n = 10). Six weeks later, half of the lesions were treated with OATS and half with triphasic constructs. The knees were dissected at 6 or 12 months. With the chosen study design we were not able to demonstrate significant differences between the histological scores of both groups. Subcategory analysis of O'Driscoll scores showed superior cartilage bonding in the 6-month triphasic group compared to the autograft group. The 12-month autograft group showed superior cartilage matrix morphology compared to the 12-month triphasic group. Macroscopic and biomechanical analysis showed no significant differences at 12 months. Autologous MSC-seeded triphasic implants showed comparable repair quality to osteochondral autografts in terms of histology and biomechanical testing.

Repair of large osteochondral defects in a beagle model with a novel type I collagen/glycosaminoglycan-porous titanium biphasic scaffold

“…[35,[42][43][44]. Moreover, Marquass believed that this process most probably occurs in the early post-implantation phase [35]. In our studies, no sinking was found after 3 months of implantation.…”

“…Some studies reported that implant sinking phenomenon was observed after repairing osteochondral defect with implants. [35,[42][43][44]. Moreover, Marquass believed that this process most probably occurs in the early post-implantation phase [35].…”

“…Thus, a significant barrier to clinical translation is how to achieve biological fixation or functional integration of the tissue-engineered orthopaedic grafts [46]. Multiphasic scaffold design has been researched for osteochondral tissue engineering [6,7,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. Maehara et al developed a hydroxyapatite/ collagen (HAp/Col) scaffold and investigated the efficacy of porous HAp/ Col impregnated with FGF-2 to repair large osteochondral defects in a rabbit model [34].…”

“…Multiphasic scaffold design has been researched for osteochondral tissue engineering [6,7,[30][31][32][33][34][35]. Each scaffold has its own limitation.…”

A biomimetic multi-layered collagen-based scaffold for osteochondral repair

“…Natural materials, including collagen [16,17] fibrin [18], hyaluronan [19], alginate [20] and agarose [21][22][23], have been widely investigated for use in osteochondral tissue repair.…”