Native hyaluronan produces less hypersensitivity than cross-linked hyaluronan.

Hyaluronan has been used in patients with osteoarthritis to relieve the painful symptoms associated with this condition. The native form of hyaluronan and artificially cross-linked forms of hyaluronan (such as Hylan G-F 20) are widely used brands that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in patients with osteoarthritis. Clinical evidence suggests that some of these hyaluronan products may induce an antigenic reaction in some patients.

Preincubation of tissue engineered constructs enhances donor cell retention.

Cartilage tissue engineering has been the focus of considerable research. However, the fate of transplanted donor cells rarely is explored directly. In the current study, the effect of preincubating perichondrial cells into a polylactic acid scaffold before implantation into an osteochondral defect was studied.

Adhesion of perichondrial cells to a polylactic acid scaffold.

The number of chondrogenic cells available locally is an important factor in the repair process for cartilage defects. Previous studies demonstrated that the number of transplanted rabbit perichondrial cells (PC) remaining in a cartilage defect in vivo, after being carried into the site in a polylactic acid (PLA) scaffold, declined markedly within two days. This study examined the ability of in vitro culture of PC/PLA constructs to enhance subsequent biomechanical stability of the cells and the matrix content in an in vitro screening assay.

Tissue-engineered repair of osteochondral defects: effects of the age of donor cells and host tissue.

Transplantation of a tissue-engineered construct containing cells of a chondrocytic phenotype into an osteochondral defect provides a biological solution to this type of injury. Among the factors that affect cell proliferation and phenotypic expression, age is one that has not been well characterized. In this study adult and aged male donor cells, derived from perichondrium, were cultured and adsorbed into a polylactic acid (PLA) scaffold and transplanted into osteochondral defects created in adult (8- to 10-month-old) and aged (4- to 5-year-old) female rabbits.