Treatment of osteoarthritis with collagen-based scaffold: A porcine animal model with xenograft mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Objective. With the goal to explore a new approach to treat the early degenerative lesions of hyaline cartilage, we implanted in a porcine OA model a collagen-based scaffold containing chondroprogenitor cells derived from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs). Experimental design. Porcine knee joints were subjected to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection to surgically induce OA. After 4 months, the time necessary for the development of cartilage surface damage, animals were treated either with trephination bone plug wrapped with the chondroprogenic hBM-MSCs-embedded collagen scaffold or microfractures alone. Histological and histomorphometric evaluations were performed at 5 months after surgery. Results. All animals subjected to ACL transection showed osteoarthritic changes including mild lateral femoral condyle or moderate medial femoral condyle ulcerations. After 14 days’ chondrogenic induction, hBM-MSCs seeded onto the scaffold showed expression of chondroprogenitor markers such as SOX9 and COMP. At 5 months after the implantation, significant differences in the quality of the regenerated tissue were found between the hBM-MSCsembedded scaffold group and the control group. Newly generated tissue was only observed at the site of implantation with the hBM-MSCs-embedded scaffolds. Furthermore, histological examination of the generated tissue revealed evidence of cartilage-like tissue with lacuna formation. In contrast, fibrous layers or fissures were formed on the surface of the control knee joint. Conclusions. This study shows that xenogenic hBMMSC derived chondroprogenitor scaffolds can generate new cartilage tissue in porcine articular cartilage and have the potential as a useful treatment option for osteoarthritis.