Human Elastic Cartilage Engineering from Cartilage Progenitor Cells Using Rotating Wall Vessel Bioreactor

Development of Scaffold-Free Elastic Cartilaginous Constructs with Structural Similarities to Auricular Cartilage

“…Although the development of perichondrium-like regions in neocartilage constructs have been observed in relatively few previous studies-most notably by Yanaga and coworkers who also showed a spontaneous recapitulation of a perichondrium-like region after implantation, 46 the majority of elastic cartilage tissue engineering approaches tend to only utilize cells isolated from the cartilaginous region. 10,11,[47][48][49][50][51] The creation of engineered constructs possessing both cartilaginous and perichondrium regions, similar to that observed in native auricular cartilage, is of benefit toward the development of functional engineered constructs suitable for implantation. 2,10,44 The cartilaginous portion of the engineered constructs also appeared to be similar to that of native auricular cartilage with the presence of elastin, collagen types II and X, and sulfated proteoglycans.…”

“…8,9 This central cartilaginous region is surrounded by two layers of dense connective tissue on both sides and referred to as the perichondium. 10 The perichondrium, believed to be essential for the growth and maintenance of elastic cartilage, 2,[9][10][11] is rich in collagen type I fibers, small nonaggregating proteoglycans, and contains numerous fibroblastic-like cells. However, the cells in the inner layer of the perichondrium (adjacent to the cartilaginous region), while resembling fibroblasts, are chondroblasts and can easily differentiate into chondrocytes.…”

“…However, the cells in the inner layer of the perichondrium (adjacent to the cartilaginous region), while resembling fibroblasts, are chondroblasts and can easily differentiate into chondrocytes. [10][11][12][13][14][15] Although the use of autologous cells in tissue engineering applications is preferable, 3,16 only a reasonable number of cells can be harvested from an individual. To overcome this limitation, a common approach has been to include a cell expansion phase before seeding the cells in, or on, a suitable scaffolding material.…”

“…To overcome this limitation, a common approach has been to include a cell expansion phase before seeding the cells in, or on, a suitable scaffolding material. 11,[17][18][19] Although successful in producing large quantities of cells, routine cell expansion of chondrocytes tends to elicit negative side effects, such as dedifferentiation and loss of potency, [20][21][22] thereby requiring a vast number of cells to synthesize sufficient quantities of engineered tissue. Alternatively, other sources of chondrocytes (e.g., costal) have been explored for auricular cartilage tissue engineering 3,[23][24][25][26][27] ; however, the cytological differences between these cells and elastic chondrocytes may make it difficult to recapitulate a functional elastic cartilaginous extracellular matrix (ECM).…”

Research on the platform of combined multi-functional bioreactor loading performance

“…Tissue engineering is an ideal method for repairing the tissue defect. Tissue engineering need to construct artificial tissue in vitro, and bioreactor plays a crucial role in tissue engineering, They can be constructed on the cell scaffold in a controllable mechanical environment, even large-scale industrial production [1].…”