The effect of continuous culture on the growth and structure of tissue-engineered cartilage.

The use of bioreactors for cartilage tissue engineering has become increasingly important as traditional batch-fed culture is not optimal for in vitro tissue growth. Most tissue engineering bioreactors rely on convection as the primary means to provide mass transfer; however, convective transport can also impart potentially unwanted and/or uncontrollable mechanical stimuli to the cells resident in the construct. The reliance on diffusive transport may not necessarily be ineffectual as previous studies have observed improved cartilaginous tissue growth when the constructs were cultured in elevated volumes of media.

Glycogen storage in tissue-engineered cartilage.

Recent focus in cartilage tissue engineering has been to develop functional tissue that can survive after implantation. One such determinant is the ability of the engineered tissue to be able to sustain its metabolic activity post-implantation. In vivo, chondrocytes contain stores of intracellular glycogen to support metabolism and it is unknown whether these cells can store glycogen during tissue growth in vitro.