Effect of storage media on chondrocyte viability during cold storage of osteochondral dowels

Osteochondral allograft transplantation is a successfully proven method to repair articular cartilage defects and prevent the degenerative effects of osteoarthritis. The number of osteochondral transplantations that can be performed each year is limited by availability of donor cartilage tissue and storage time constraints. Osteochondral transplantation success has been linked to high chondrocyte viability of the donor cartilage tissue at the time of implantation. Determining optimal storage conditions for donor cartilage is essential for tissue banks to safely provide quality cartilage tissue. In this study, we compared three tissue/cell media (DMEM/F12, RPMI-1640 and X-VIVO 10) for their ability to maintain chondrocyte viability during hypothermic storage for 28 days. Porcine osteochondral dowels were stored in each media for 28 days and cell viability was assessed every 7 days. Over the 28 day storage period, the chondrocyte viability of dowels stored in DMEM/F12, RPMI-1640, and X-VIVO 10 media all declined in a similar fashion. Our results show that all three media were equivalent in their ability to maintain cell viability of the cartilage tissue and provides rationale for the use of lower cost cell media (DMEM/F12 and RPMI-1640) for hypothermic storage of articular cartilage tissue.