Abstract
The aim of this research project is to develop a novel engineered cartilage tissue that has mechanical properties comparable with natural articular tissue. As a part of the fundamental work, culture condition were mainly examined to optimize the proliferation and differentiation of MSCs. As a new novel scaffold for cartilage regeneration, collagen gel/sponge two-phase scaffold was developed by placing sponge structure in gel phase. Effects of combined medium and the number of seeding cells on the biological and mechanical properties of the engineered cartilage were examined. Two kinds of combined culture condition were found to effectively activate the proliferation and differentiation of MSCs, resulting in increase of the compressive modulus. It was also found that increased cell number can activate the proliferation and result in the increase of compressive mechanical property.
