Design and validation of a biomechanical bioreactor for cartilage tissue culture

• Published in: Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 471 - 478
• Main Authors: Correia, V., Panadero, J. A., Ribeiro, C., Sencadas, V., Rocha, J. G., Gomez Ribelles, J. L., Lanceros-Méndez, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and Medical Physics; Biomechanics; Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering; Biophysics; Bioreactors; Cartilage; Cartilage, Articular - growth & development; Cell Line; Cellular biology; Electricity; Engineering; Equipment Design; Mice; Reproducibility of Results; Short Communication; Software; Space life sciences; Sterilization; Theoretical and Applied Mechanics; Tissue Engineering - instrumentation; Tissue Engineering - methods; Tissues; Cell culture; Bioreactor; Scaffold; Mechanical stimulation
• ISSN: 1617-7959; 1617-7940
• DOI: 10.1007/s10237-015-0698-5

Specific tissues, such as cartilage, undergo mechanical solicitation under their normal performance in human body. In this sense, it seems necessary that proper tissue engineering strategies of these tissues should incorporate mechanical solicitations during cell culture, in order to properly evaluate the influence of the mechanical stimulus. This work reports on a user-friendly bioreactor suitable for applying controlled mechanical stimulation—amplitude and frequency—to three-dimensional scaffolds. Its design and main components are described, as well as its operation characteristics. The modular design allows easy cleaning and operating under laminar hood. Different protocols for the sterilization of the hermetic enclosure are tested and ensure lack of observable contaminations, complying with the requirements to be used for cell culture. The cell viability study was performed with KUM5 cells.