SYNTHESIS OF HUMAN CARTILAGE USING ORGANOTYPIC CELL-CULTURE

The limited supply of fresh autologous cartilage tissue for use in rec onstructive surgery necessitates the use of vital banked allografts. A feasible in vitro production of cartilage tissue composed of living c ells requires the use of modem tissue culture techniques retaining the phenotypic characteristics of chondrocytes. With this purpose in mind , human chondrocytes were isolated and cultured using different cultur e procedures: monolayer, suspension and agar gel. The differentiation state of chondrocytes as well as proteoglycan and collagen syntheses w ere assessed by histochemical and immunohistochemical methods. Whereas chondrocytes in monolayer displayed an unstable phenotype and tended to dedifferentiate, in three-dimensional culture the chondrocytes rema ined morphologically, phenotypically and functionally differentiated. Furthermore, an accumulation of matrix products pericellularly was obs erved in the agar gel. The results suggest that three-dimensional cult ures in agar gel may allow the in vitro production of bioartificial ca rtilage for transplantation.