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Volume 25, Issue 12 , Pages 1435-1441, December 2009

Augmentation of Degenerated Human Cartilage In Vitro Using Magnetically Labeled Mesenchymal Stem Cells and an External Magnetic Device

Takaaki Kobayashi, M.D.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Mitsuo Ochi, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Mitsuo Ochi, M.D., Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan
Shinobu Yanada, M.Sc.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Masakazu Ishikawa, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Nobuo Adachi, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Masataka Deie, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
Koji Arihiro, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan

Received 5 October 2008; accepted 10 June 2009. published online 09 November 2009.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to regenerate degenerated human cartilage in vitro by use of magnetically labeled mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and an external magnetic device.

Methods

MSCs from human bone marrow were cultured and magnetically labeled. Degenerated human cartilage was obtained during total knee arthroplasty. The osteochondral fragments were attached to the sidewall of tissue culture flasks, and magnetically labeled MSCs were injected into the flasks. By use of an external magnetic device, a magnetic force was applied for 6 hours to the direction of the cartilage, and then the degenerated cartilage was cultured in chondrogenic differentiation medium for 3 weeks. In the control group a magnetic force was not applied. The specimens were evaluated histologically.

Results

A cell layer was formed on the degenerated cartilage as shown by H&E staining. The cell layer was also stained in toluidine blue and safranin O and with anti-collagen type II immunostaining, indicating that the cell layer contained an extracellular matrix. In the control group a cell layer was not observed on the cartilage.

Conclusions

We were able to show that our system could deliver MSCs onto degenerated human cartilage and then form an extracellular matrix on the degenerated cartilage in vitro.