Feasibility of using alginate/gelatin composite scaffold for human chondrocyte regeneration

Human articular cartilage tissue has limit capacity to heal itself. Tissue engineering is one of the high potential treatment strategies. In this study, alginate and crosslinked gelatin was chosen to used as a three dimensional scaffold for regeneration of human articular chondrocyte. Preliminary studies in animal were done to observe for their ability of redifferentiation and chondrogenic property. In house-designed scaffolds seeded with human articular chondrocytes were implanted in subcutaneous pockets of nude mice. At 12 weeks after implantation, the specimens were removed for hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical (S-100 protein) staining. The cartilage-like tissue was created without inflammatory responses of the tissue and the neovasculars were observed.