OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to culture chondrocytes from knee joint cartilage of rabbits encapsulated in alginate hydrogel (HA) and to characterize the production of extracelular matrix (ECM). METHODS: Joint cartilage was obtained from rabbits' knees, three to six months old, fragmented into 1-mm pieces and submitted to enzymatic digestion. A concentration of 1x106 cells/mL were re-suspended into a 1.5% (w/v) sodium alginate solution, followed by gel formation process with CaCl2 (102 mM), allowing HA to build for culturing it into a DMEM-F12 medium for four weeks. The distribution of cells and ECM were assessed from histological slices stained toluidine blue and hematoxyline-eosin (HE). RESULTS: There was an increase of the number and viability of the chondrocytes during the four weeks of culture. By assessing the histological sections stained with toluidine blue and HE, we could note the definitive distribution of chondrocytes in the hydrogel, similarly to isogenous groups and territorial matrix formation. CONCLUSION: In this study, the alginate was shown to be an effective scaffold for use in chondrocytes culture, constituting an alternative for repairing joint cartilage defects.
Articular Cartilage; Chondrocytes; Alginate; Hydrogel; Regeneration; Tissue engineering
