Abstract
The cartilage diseases such as osteoarthritis and chondral injuries are considered irreversible and the result of recent treatments remains not optimal. One of the reasons is due to the poor understanding of chondrocyte behaviours. To understand more about cartilage, we designed a series of novel experiments. First, a total joint of bovine metatarsophalanges was isolated as our novel model. We chose it because the configuration and the healing potential were similar to human, and many variables of large animal studies could be controlled in laboratory. The model not only provided a good ex vivo platform for cartilage researches but also connected in vitro cellular studies and in vivo animal studies. To mimic joint movement a special driving machine was designed. To characterise the novel model viabilities of chondrocytes and contents of sulphated glycosaminoglycan (GAGs) in extracellular matrixes were measured every seven days. The preliminary results revealed the viabilities of chondrocytes remained above 80% alive in the middle zone after four-weeks culture. The GAGs contents decreased after this culturing period. The experiments still carry on going to compare the static and dynamic models which joint movement could be a determinative factor to the viability of chondrocytes. Cellular treatment is the recent mainstream for cartilage diseases. If advanced knowledge in chondrocyte behaviours could be obtained from this model, development of optimal treatment will be possible in the future.
