OBJECTIVE: To describe tissue-engineered cartilage from rabbit and human chondrocytes.
STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Chondrocytes from rabbit and human ears were seeded onto a tem-plate and implanted for 8 or 16 weeks of in vivo incubation.
RESULTS: For the 8-week and 16-week groups, the UTS for cartilage was 3.8 MPa and 3.7 MPa, stiffness was 62.4 MPa and 51.8 MPa, and resilience was 181.8 J/m3 and 109.1 J/m3, respectively. Experimental cartilage was significantly different from controls. From 5 human specimens, the UTS was 5.4 MPa, stiffness was 6.6 MPa, and resilience was 2.0 J/m3. The control had UTS of 8.8 MPa, stiffness of 12.2 MPa, and resilience of 2.9 J/m3. Histology showed mature cartilage but with a fibrovascular infiltrate and increased cellularity.
CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical properties of tissue-engineered cartilage can be quantified and are less than that of controls.
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