Survival characteristics of injected human cartilage slurry in a nude mouse model: a preliminary study

We conducted a study to examine the viability, host response, and volume retention characteristics of drilled human septal cartilage slurry when injected into an athymic nude mouse model. We injected 0.2 ml of the slurry into the hind limbs of 6 mice. The mice were sequentially sacrificed over a period of 180 days. Histologic reviews of the hind limbs were performed to determine the viability of injected chondrocytes, host response, and volume retention. Specimens were obtained and histomorphologic analysis was performed at 1, 30, 90, and 180 days after injection. We identified viable cartilage throughout the study. Cartilage injection was well tolerated, and minimal inflammatory reaction occurred without significant adverse effects. The injected bolus of cartilage was found to have progressively dispersed throughout the muscle over time. Our findings warrant further investigation with a larger cohort of nude mice or possibly human subjects.