Culture of Chondrocytes on Scaffolds with Different Pore Network of PLGA and PLLA.

Rhie, Jong Won; Ahn, Tae Joo; Park, Jae Gu; Sohn, Joo Young; Cho, Hae Suk; Lim, Poong

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons 2003;30(2):237-244.
Published online March 1, 2003.

Culture of Chondrocytes on Scaffolds with Different Pore Network of PLGA and PLLA.

Jong Won Rhie, Tae Joo Ahn, Jae Gu Park, Joo Young Sohn, Hae Suk Cho, Poong Lim

¹Department of Plastic Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea. rhie@catholic.ac.kr
²Gana Aesthetic Clinic, Seoul, Korea.
³Hosan Aesthetic Clinic, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate the in vitro proliferation and migration of rabbit auricular chondrocytes into the various sized pore of PLLA and PLGA scaffolds. The chondrocytes were harvested, expanded, and seeded onto PLGA(50 : 50, 75 : 25, 85 : 15) and PLLA scaffold having either small(50 - 100 micrometer) or large(300 - 350 micrometer) pores. On the 4th and 8th week after culture, histologic observation and quantitative DNA assay were done. We noted that the largest amount of DNA was found in the 85 : 15 PLGA sponges than others, and in the 4th and 8th week, some amount of DNA was detected in the lower portion of 85 : 15 PLGA sponge only, and DNA amounts were increased during the culture period in the 85 : 15 PLGA, significantly. We also found that the numbers of cells were low in middle portion of scaffolds, and in large pore-sized group of 85 : 15 PLGA, there were many cells in the lower portion of the scaffolds more than that of small pore group. In conclusion, the pore size of the scaffold for chondrocyte culture is important for cell migration and proliferation, and PLGA, especially 85 : 15 PLGA with 300- 350 micrometer sized pore is the more suitable biomatrix for proliferation and migration of the chondrocytes.

Keywords: Chondrocyte; PLGA sponge; PLLA sponge; Pore