Articular cartilage regeneration using hyaluronic acid loaded PLGA scaffold by emulsion freeze-drying method

Adult articular cartilage tissue has poor capability of self-repair. Therefore, a variety of tissue engineering approaches are motivated by the clinical need for articular repair. PLGA and hyaluronic acid(HA) has been widely used as biocompatible scaffolds materials to regenerate tissue. HA loaded PLGA scaffolds were prepared by a emulsion freeze-drying method. The chondrocytes were seeded on the HA-PLGA scaffolds and measured by MTT assay. Morphological observation, histology, biological assay for collagen and sGAG, and PCR were performed. In MTT assay result, scaffolds containing HA were higher cell viability then only PLGA scaffolds. Although collagen, sGAG, mRNA and collagen type II were greater than HA-PLGA scaffolds and collagen type I was less than HA/PLGA scaffolds. When we cultured cartilage cell of rabbit in vitro, we observed better to keep the characteristic of cartilage cell in the HA-PLGA scaffolds than that PLGA scaffolds. This study suggests that HA/PLGA scaffold may serve as a potential cell delivery vehicle and a structural basis for in vitro tissue engineered articular cartilage.