Transplantation of a Scaffold-Free Cartilage Tissue Analogue for the Treatment of Physeal Cartilage Injury of the Proximal Tibia in Rabbits

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of transplantation of an in vitro-generated, scaffold-free, tissue-engineered cartilage tissue analogue (CTA) using a suspension chondrocyte culture in a rabbit growth-arrest model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We harvested cartilage cells from the articular cartilage of the joints of white rabbits and made a CTA using a suspension culture of 2×10(7) cells/mL. An animal growth plate defect model was made on the medial side of the proximal tibial growth plate of both tibias of 6-week-old New Zealand white rabbits (n=10). The allogenic CTA was then transplanted onto the right proximal tibial defect. As a control, no implantation was performed on the left-side defect. Plain radiographs and the medial proximal tibial angle were obtained at 1-week intervals for evaluation of bone bridge formation and the degree of angular deformity until postoperative week 6. We performed a histological evaluation using hematoxylin-eosin and Alcian blue staining at postoperative weeks 4 and 6. RESULTS: Radiologic study revealed a median medial proximal tibial angle of 59.0° in the control group and 80.0° in the CTA group at 6 weeks. In the control group, statistically significant angular deformities were seen 3 weeks after transplantation (p<0.05). On histological examination, the transplanted CTA was maintained in the CTA group at 4 and 6 weeks postoperative. Bone bridge formation was observed in the control group. CONCLUSION: In this study, CTA transplantation minimized deformity in the rabbit growth plate injury model, probably via the attenuation of bone bridge formation.