Chondrocyte deformation within mechanically and enzymatically extracted chondrons compressed in agarose.

Within articular cartilage, the chondron microenvironment will influence chondrocyte behaviour and response to loading. Chondrons were extracted from intact cartilage using either mechanical homogenisation (MC) or enzymatic digestion (EC) and cell and matrix morphology in unstrained and compressed agarose constructs was examined. Isolated chondrocytes (IC) were used for comparison. Immunolocalisation of type VI collagen and keratan sulphate revealed differences in the structure of the pericellular microenvironment such that MC most closely resembled chondrons in situ. The unstrained cell diameters of IC and EC were larger than MC at day 1 and increased significantly over a 7 day culture period. In contrast, cell diameters for MC remained constant. Compression of constructs at day 1 resulted in cell deformation for IC and EC but not MC. The two chondron extraction methods yielded chondrons of differing matrix morphology and associated differences in cell size and cellular response to load. The results indicate that the pericellular microenvironment of MC initially possessed a greater mechanical integrity than that of EC. Although these differences may be reduced with time in culture, characterisation of mechanically isolated chondrons suggests that the stiffness of the chondrons in situ may be greater than previous estimates.