Optimization studies on growth of human chondrocytes

Abstract

Cartilage is one of the expectative targets for tissue engineering because it differs from other tissues in its limited capacity for self-repair, which makes the treatment of chondral lesions difficult. The techniques currently available to treat cartilage lesions may relieve symptoms, but do not regenerate the injured tissue. Autologous chondrocyte transplantation uses cell biology and cell culture techniques that aim at regenerating the hyaline cartilage and restoring the function of the articular surface. Present study was carried out to standardize and analyze the culture conditions of chondrocytes from human donors and ex vivo expansion of the chondrocytes in view of their therapeutic use. Human chondrocytes, procured and isolated from cartilage piece collected from the patient suffering from cartilage damage, were cultured and subjected to growth studies. Cell culture assays were performed to evaluate isolation, viability, morphology and proliferation. In the present study, the cell isolation process and culture conditions were proved to be efficient and assured a high cell proliferation rate as well as a cell viability of 75-87.5%. The results enabled the evaluation of biopsy processing conditions to obtain chondrocytes, culture conditions for cell proliferation and evaluation of suitable strategies for chondrocyte culture.