Chondrogenesis Of Co-Cultured Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Articular cartilage is known to have a deficient capability for tissue regeneration due to lack of vasculature. Cartilage regeneration remains challenging despite the extensive research for the past decade. Cell-based therapies are the most promising approach among all cartilaginous treatment for clinical application. However cell sourcing culture-expansion and chondrogenic differentiation remains a challenge in cell-based tissue engineering. Previous studies have shown co-cultured in alginate constructs play a pivotal role in cell cross-talk for successful cartilaginous regeneration. Given that multipotent human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have therapeutic potential for cartilage defect; the cell-cell interactions between ADSCs and human nasal chondroctyes (NCs) for promoting chondrogenesis in a three dimensional culture environment of alginate hydrogel was investigated.