Abstract
Chondrocytes in articular cartilage synthesize collagen type II and large sulfated proteoglycans, whereas the same cells cultured in monolayer (2D) dedifferentiate into fibroblastic cells and express collagen type I and small proteoglycans. On the other hand, a pellet culture system was developed as a method for preventing the phenotypic modulation of chondrocyte, and promoting the redifferentiation of dedifferentiated one. Because the pellet culture system forms only one cell-aggregate each tube by a centrifugator, the aggregate could not be applied to produce a tissue engineered cartilage. Threrefore, we tried to form chondrocytes-aggregates by a rotational culrure, expecting to form large amounts of aggregates at once.
