PHBV and predifferentiated human adipose‐derived stem cells for cartilage tissue engineering

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate whether in vitro chondrogenic differentiated human adipose‐derived stem cells (hASCs) can maintain the chondrogenic phenotype in (3‐hydroxybutrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) scaffolds and whether differentiated hASCs/PHBV construct can produce neocartilage in a heterotopic animal model. hASCs were cultured with or without chondrogenic media in vitro and then seeded on PHBV foams. Differentiated cell/PHBV constructs were subcutaneously implanted in nude mice for 8 or 16 weeks; nondifferentiated cell/PHBV constructs were implanted in the control group. The results in the control group showed no cartilage formation and the disappearance of the scaffold at 8 weeks. Conversely, all differentiated hASCs/PHBV implants kept their original shape throughout 16 weeks. These implants at 16 weeks had stronger chondrocytes‐specific histochemical staining than those at 8 weeks, with GAG, total collagen, and compressive moduli increased with implantation time. Cartilage lacunae were observed in all retrieved implants at 16 weeks. The chondrocytes‐specific genes were detected by RT‐PCR at 16 weeks. The remnants of PHBV were observed in the implants throughout 16 weeks. This study demonstrates that chondrogenic predifferentiated hASCs have the ability to maintain a chondrogenic phenotype in PHBV and that cell/PHBV constructs can produce neocartilage in a heterotopic site, but the degradation rates of PHBV in different environments needs more investigation. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2010