Macroscopic and histologic evaluation of cartilage regeneration treated using xenogenic biodegradable porous sponge cartilage scaffold composite supplemented with allogenic adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) and secretome: An in vivo experimental study.

Introduction: Articular cartilage is an avascular, alymphatic, and anisotropic tissue, these characteristics cause significant healing problems to injuries to the cartilage tissue. To overcome this problem, various techniques have been developed and widely used, but the cost-effectiveness and resulting tissue regeneration have never achieved hyaline-like cartilage that has the best biomechanical properties. The idea of this experiment is to use a Biodegradable Porous Sponge Cartilage (BPSC) Scaffold to enhance the regeneration of hyaline-like cartilage combined with microfracture technique and Adipose Derived Stem Cells (ASCs) or secretome on an animal model.

Methods: A model defect was made on the femoral trochlea of a New Zealand white rabbit. Four groups were made to compare different treatment methods for osteochondral defects. The groups were: (1) Control group; (2) Scaffold Group; (3) Scaffold + ASCs Group; (4) Scaffold + Secretome Group. After 12 weeks, we terminate the animal models, then a macroscopic evaluation using the International Cartilage Research Society (ICRS) scoring system and Oswestry Arthroscopy Score (OAS) was done, followed by sectioning the specimen for microscopic evaluation using the ODriscoll scoring system.

Results: The mean score for all treatment group were better compared to the control group grossly and histologically. The best mean score for macroscopic and microscopic evaluation was the group given Scaffold + ASCs.

Conclusion: The application of BPSC scaffold enhances cartilage regeneration in larger osteochondral defects. Furthermore, the addition of ASCs or secretome along with the scaffold implantation further enhances the cartilage regeneration, in which ASCs shows better results.