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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
3D Hydrogel Scaffolds for Articular Chondrocyte Culture and Cartilage Generation
Published on: October 7, 2015
Chondrocyte response to high regimens of cyclic hydrostatic pressure in 3-dimensional engineered constructs
G Candiani1, M T Raimondi, R Aurora
1Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering 'Giulio Natta', Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy. gabriele.candiani@polimi.it
Purpose:
Despite widespread use of 3-dimensional (3D) micro-porous scaffolds to promote their potential application in cartilage tissue engineering, only a few studies have examined the response to hydrostatic pressure of engineered constructs. A high cyclic pressurization, currently believed to be the predominant mechanical signal perceived by cells in articular cartilage, was used here to stimulate bovine articular chondrocytes cultured in a synthetic 3D porous scaffold (DegraPol).
Methods:
Construct cultivation lasted 3 days with applied pressurization cycles of amplitude 10 MPa, frequency 0.33 Hz, and stimulation sessions of 4 hours/day.
Results:
At 3 days of culture, with respect to pre-culture conditions, the viability of the pressurized constructs did not vary, whereas it underwent a 16% drop in the unpressurized controls. Synthesis of alfa-actin was 34% lower in all cultured constructs. Synthesis of collagen II/collagen I did not vary in pressurized constructs, was 76% lower in unpressurized controls, and was around 230% higher in pressurized constructs with respect to unpressurized controls. Chondrocytes showed a phenotypic spherical morphology at time zero and at 3 days of pressurized culture.
Conclusions:
Although the passage from 2D expansion to 3D geometry was effective to guide cell differentiation, only mechanical conditioning enabled the maintenance and further cell differentiation toward a mature chondrocytic phenotype.
