Cell-seeded type II collagen scaffolds for articular cartilage tissue engineering

Defects in articular cartilage exhibit little spontaneous healing response, in part due to the limited number of chondrocytes available to infiltrate the defect and the absence of a provisional fibrin scaffold to accommodate cell migration into the lesion. One variable related to tissue engineering strategies employing cell-seeded scaffolds to treat such defects is the amount of cartilage formed in the construct prior to implantation. The objectives of this thesis were to evaluate effects of scaffold cross-link density and bioreactor culture environment on chondrogenesis in cell-seeded type II collagen scaffolds in vitro, and to begin to test effects of implant compositional maturity (viz. glycosaminoglycan, GAG, content) on chondral defect repair. Scaffold cross-link density, a determinant of cell-mediated scaffold contraction and degradation, affected chondrogenesis; scaffolds of low cross-link density that experienced contraction exhibited greater cartilaginous tissue formation compared to highly cross-linked scaffolds that resisted contraction. In addition to tissue-level effects on histogenesis, cross-link density was found to direct phenotypic differentiation at the cellular level. When employing marrow-derived stem cells as an alternative to chondrocytes, scaffolds with lower cross-link densities (and thus less resistance to contraction and degradation) favored chondrocytic differentiation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Vickers, Scott M. (Scott Mitchell), 1978-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Myron Spector.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38926

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38926