spheroid co-culture of articular chondrocytes and mesenchymal stem cells in hollow core hyaluronic acid microcapsules for cartilage tissue engineering

Limited number of autologous chondrocytes, chondrocyte dedifferentiation during 2d expansion phase and chondrogenic stimuli requirement for chondrogensis of mesenchymal stem cells are the main challenges in cartilage tissue engineering# in this project, co-culture of articular chondrocytes and mscs, in the absence of growth factors, was studied in the 3d microenvironment of spherical microcapsules made from a hyaluronic acid derivative possessing phenolic hydroxyl moieties (ha-ph) cross-linkable through the enzymatic reaction by horseradish peroxidase (hrp) and h2o2# hollow-core cell-enclosing microcapsules were obtained by extruding an aqueous solution of ha-ph, hrp, catalase, and cells into a co-flowing stream of liquid paraffin containing h2o2# co-culture of human articular chondrocytes (hacs) and human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hadmscs) was studied in microcapsules with a diameter of 200 µm# the viability of the cells recovered from microcapsuls was evaluated to be high enough for applying in the practical processes# after 3 weeks, spheroid formation was observed in some microcapsules#