Collagen and Proteoglycan Production in Chondrocyte-seeded Agarose: Pilot Study of the Response to a Sliding Elastohydrostatic-type Bearing. (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pourmohammadali, Homeyra; Chandrashekar, Naveen; Medley, John B.
• Is Part Of: Biotribology. Volume 23(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: Articular cartilage repair -- Sliding stimulation -- Elastohydrostatic contact -- Agarose-chondrocyte constructs; Biological interfaces -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biomechanics -- Periodicals; Tribology -- Periodicals; 610.2805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biotri.2020.100129
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-5738

Abstract

Abstract: Mechanical stimulation and fluid perfusion during in vitro conditioning have the potential to improve constructs for clinical applications in the focal defect repair of load-bearing articular cartilage tissue. The present study uses a novel stimulator with a sliding "elastohydrostatic-type" bearing contact to exert a combination of loads and perfusion during the sliding indentation on chondrocyte-seeded agarose. The 31-day study reports glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collagen production for constructus after 10 days of free swelling (FS) followed by 3 weeks of stimulation. The applied conditions were "flow and load" (F), "no flow but load" (NF) and "no flow and no load" (NN). The overall production of GAG was not found to be affected under F or NF conditions, but for collagen it was increased by close to 40% when F was compared with the NN controls. While a large portion of the produced collagen was released into the culture media rather than retained in the agarose construct, this was still considered a promising initial finding. The context and implications of our findings were examined by extensive comparisons with similar studies in the literature. Highlights: Present novel elastohydrostatic-type bearing stimulator for chondrocytes in agarose Collagen production much increased (but most was released into the culture media). Promising initial finding