Partial Resurfacing of the Distal Femoral Cartilage Defect With Stem Cell- Seeded Poly-Vinyl-Alcohol (Pva) Scaffold

To evaluate the biological compatibility of differentiated stem cells embedded inpoly-vinyl-alcohol (pva) scaffolds for repair of distal femoral cartilage defect.design- experimental in vivo study.animals- twelve adult male new zealand white rabbits were used which were divided intotwo groups (i, ii) six rabbits each.procedures- mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from humerus bone marrow of group irabbits and were cultured and differentiated on pva scaffolds to chondrocytes. scanningelectron microscopy (sem) showed well distribution of the cells inside the scaffold. a 4 mmdiameter full thickness cartilage defect was created on central region of bilateral distalfemoral joint surface (patellar groove) in all rabbits. in group (i) the defects were coveredwith autologous differentiated mscs-seeded scaffolds; whereas the group ii rabbits were leftwithout any treatment as control ones. one month and three months after operation, three rabbits were sacrificed from each group, randomly. histopathologic evaluation of defects wasperformed with h&e and trichrome staining.results- the findings showed that in the engineered cartilage with the pva scaffold, thedefects were filled with smooth, shiny white tissue macroscopically at three months after thetransplantation. despite much connective tissue formed in defect area after three months,there was no evidence of chondrocytes in control group, whereas the defects of experimentalgroup were almost completely filled with hyaline cartilage.conclusion and clinical relevance- the results indicated there is positive possibility forpartial resurfacing of cartilage defect using stem cell-seeded pva scaffolds