자가 연골세포의 이식 후 재생연골 조직에서의 세포기원

초록

Articular cartilage is not repaired adequately after injury. Efforts to regenerate cartilage using cells transplantation, including autologous chondrocytes, are under current investigation. However the information regarding the fate and the role of transplanted chondrocytes during cartilage regeneration remain unclear. In the present study, we labeled the transplanted chondrocytes with lipophilic tracers, DiI, and examined the regenerated cartilage resulting from trnasplantation of cultured autologous chondrocytes into cartilage defects in dogs. In the present study, four weeks after the transplantation of DiI-labed chondrocytes, the cartilage difect was filled with regenrative tissue that resembled hyaline cartilage, and the labeled cells were found in the regenerative tissues. These results demonstrate that full-thickness defects of the weight-bearing region of the articular cartilage were reparited with hyaline-like cartilage following transplantation of autologous chondrocytes, and the transplanted chondrocyte can survive and play a direct role on the regeneration of cartilage. However, it remains unclear that the other cells, such as periosteal cells of bone marrow stromal stem cell, can be involved in the regeneration of cartilage with transplanted chondrocytes.