Biological Properties of Allogenic Articular Chondrocytes on the Surface of Bovine Cartilage Explants in vitro

• Published in: Journal of veterinary medicine. Series A Vol. 50; no. 8; pp. 418 - 423
• Main Authors: Kim, G., Okumura, M., Bosnakovski, D., Ishiguro, T., Kadosawa, T., Fujinaga, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Germany Blackwell Verlag GmbH 01.10.2003
• Subjects: Animals; Cartilage, Articular - cytology; Cattle; Cells, Cultured; Chondrocytes - physiology; Coculture Techniques; Culture Techniques; Microscopy, Confocal - veterinary
• ISSN: 0931-184X; 1439-0442
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1439-0442.2003.00570.x

Summary Bovine cartilage explants were co‐cultured with or without allogenic chondrocytes for 4 weeks. The attachment of the applied chondrocytes to cartilage after labelling with fluorescence was assessed using a confocal laser microscope. Morphological changes and the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) of co‐cultured chondrocytes on intact and damaged surfaces of cartilage were evaluated by histological and immunohistochemical methods. Co‐cultured chondrocytes attached to and proliferated on the intact and damaged areas of cartilage, and a new layer was created there. The defects were also filled with ECM produced by the co‐cultured chondrocytes. Glycosaminoglycans and collagen type II were detected in the newly formed ECM, and large numbers of rounded chondrocytes were observed at primitive lacunae in this matrix at 4 weeks of culture. The results suggest that chondrocytes have the ability to attach to, to proliferate on and to establish a new matrix on the intact and damaged surfaces of cartilage explants.