In vitro chondrocyte culture using hydrophilized PLLA scaffold in bioreactor system

Abstract

Nonporous PLLA film and porous PLLA scaffolds were prepared and then grafted with acrylic acid (AA) using in situ direct plasma treatment to obtain PLLA-g-PAA. Chondrocytes isolated from rabbit knee articular cartilages were cultivated in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium-F12 (DMEM-F12) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1% antibiotics and passaged twice before cell seeding. Once seeded on either PLLA films or scaffolds, they were placed in a bioreactor system and an intermittent hydrodynamic pressure (IHP) was applied in 3 bars, while turned on for 2 min and off for 28 min during 15-day culture. AA grafting to PLLA surface was confirmed from various surface analyses. From WST-1 assay, chondrocyte proliferation was significantly improved with dynamic IHP for PLLA and PLLA-g-PAA scaffolds as compared to static culture. This study indicates that IHP may have significant influence on chondrocytes behavior in 3D culture environment.