Tissue engineering of cartilage with chondrocytes cultured in a chemically-defined, serum-free medium.

Cell culture with serum-containing medium has potential problems associated with contamination of infectious agents. This study demonstrates for the first time the feasibility of regenerating cartilage tissues in vivo by implantation of chondrocytes cultured in vitro in a chemically-defined, serum-free medium. Chondrocytes cultured in the serum-free medium grew similarly to those in a serum-containing medium. Implantation of chondrocytes cultured in the serum-free medium and seeded on to polymer scaffolds resulted in the regeneration of cartilage tissues with histological aspects similar to those of cartilage tissues regenerated from chondrocytes cultured in serum-containing medium.