Abstract
Three-dimensional culture techniques of MSCs have attracted much attention to the differentiation of MSCs into hyaline cartilage in vitro and to transplant it into an injured site; therefore, it is considered a promising technique for regenerative medicine for hyaline cartilage defects and osteoarthritis. However, the conventional three-dimensional culture system that is essential for chondrogenic induction has specific problems including the effects of gravitational stress on the cells and nutrition and excretion deficiencies. A rotating wall vessel (RWV) bioreactor, which was developed in a NASA space experiment, is an effective culture system that utilizes a circular vessel with a gas-exchange membrane and rotates vertically to provide culture medium flow and to balance gravity. In this paper, we introduce our recent results about cartilaginous tissue regeneration using RWV bioreactor from rabbit, monkey and human bone marrow cells.
