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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
3D Hydrogel Scaffolds for Articular Chondrocyte Culture and Cartilage Generation
Published on: October 7, 2015
[Experimental study of bFGF modulating rabbit articular chondrocytes cultured in vitro and seeded onto polylactic
1Department of Orthopaedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China.
Objective:
Culturing rabbit articular chondrocytes in vitro and seeding on polylactic acid (PLA) coated with lecithin and poly-l-lysine modulated by bFGF to find a suitable method for cartilaginous tissue engineering.
Methods:
The articular chondrocytes were isolated enzymatically from the articular cartilage of young rabbits, and cultured in vitro. Collecting the chondrocytes of the third passage and seeding on three-dimensional scaffold of polylactic acid coated with lecithin and poly-l-lysine. At the same time, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was added. Proceeding series of detections when the cell-scaffold complexes were cultured more than two weeks, such as macroscopic, invert microscope, light microscope, scanning electron microscope and immunohistochemistry of collagen II.
Results:
The cell-scaffold complexes modulate by bFGF could not only keep their original shapes, but also maintain the stable homogeneous three-dimensional distribution of chondrocytes without cell falling during the cultivation. At the same time, the complexes were gradually decreasing the consistency, however, increasing the Pliability with elasticity and lubrication surface. After the second week, the complexes were gradually reorganized into the mature engineered cartilage with typical cartilaginous histological structure with rich collagen II.
Conclusion:
bFGF can facilitate the regeneration and maturation of tissue-engineered articular cartilage.
