Bio-3D printing of scaffold-free ADSC-derived cartilage constructs comparable to natural cartilage in vitro.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background In end-stage osteoarthritis (OA), osteochondral defects reach the subchondral bone and cartilage tissue of sufficient thickness is required to compensate for the defects. Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (ADSCs), which are abundant in the body, have the potential to differentiate into cartilage and may be a useful cell source for cartilage regeneration. If it is possible to fabricate ADSC-derived cartilage constructs that can cover the damaged area, this could lead to the development of a new regenerative therapy for OA that could replace the currently available treatments. We therefore sought to produce cartilage constructs with suitable thickness and biological properties, similar to native cartilage, using the bio-three-dimensional (3D) printer. We also investigated the culture protocol to ensure that the constructs were fully mature even at the internal site. Methods ADSCs were isolated from three rats and expanded to create cartilage spheroids. The spheroids were arranged into patches using a Kenzan bio-3D printer to create scaffold-free, cell-only cartilage constructs. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was added during expansion culture and varying concentrations of bone morphogenetic protein2 (BMP2) were supplemented during chondrogenic differentiation. The levels of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in the spheroids and constructs were measured. The

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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