Orthopedics Department, Longgang District People's Hospital of Shenzhen & The Second Affiliated Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
Orthopedics Department, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Tissue Eng Part C Methods. 2023 Mar;29(3):110-120. doi: 10.1089/ten.tec.2022.0202.
There is still a lack of effective treatments for cartilage damage. Cartilage tissue engineering could be a promising treatment method. Human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly (HUCWJ) and hydrogels have received wide attention as a scaffold for tissue engineering. They have not been widely used in clinical studies as their effectiveness and safety are still controversial. This study systematically compared the ability of these two biological tissue engineering materials to carry chondrocytes to repair cartilage injury . Chondrocytes were cocultured with HUCWJ or hydrogel for transplantation. The treatments comprised the HUCWJ+cell, hydrogel+cell, and blank groups. A rabbit model with articular cartilage defect in the knee joint area was established. The defective knee cartilage of different rabbit groups was treated for 3 and 6 months. The efficacy of the various treatments on articular cartilage injury was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and biochemical indices. We found that the HUCWJ+cell and hydrogel+cell groups promoted cartilage repair compared with the blank group, which had no repair effect. The treatment efficacy of each group at 6 months was significantly better than that at 3 months. HUCWJ showed accelerated cartilage repair ability than the hydrogel. This study showed that HUCWJ is useful in cartilage tissue engineering to enhance the efficacy of chondrocyte-based cartilage repair, providing new insights for regenerative medicine. Impact statement Human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly (HUCWJ) and hydrogel are the suitable extracellular matrix for cartilage tissue engineering. This study assessed the capacity of HUCWJ- and hydrogel-loaded chondrocytes to repair cartilage injury . The data demonstrate that both HUCWJ and hydrogel effectively facilitated cartilage repair, and the repair effects of HUCWJ were significantly better compared with hydrogel, therefore providing a potential candidate for clinical practice of cartilage regeneration therapy.
目前，针对软骨损伤，仍然缺乏有效的治疗方法。软骨组织工程可能是一种很有前途的治疗方法。人脐带华通氏胶（HUCWJ）和水凝胶作为组织工程支架受到了广泛关注。但由于其有效性和安全性仍存在争议，尚未广泛应用于临床研究。本研究系统比较了这两种生物组织工程材料携带软骨细胞修复软骨损伤的能力。将软骨细胞与 HUCWJ 或水凝胶共培养后进行移植。治疗组包括 HUCWJ+细胞组、水凝胶+细胞组和空白组。建立兔膝关节关节软骨缺损模型。对不同兔组的缺损膝关节软骨进行 3 个月和 6 个月的治疗。通过免疫组织化学和生化指标评估各种治疗方法对关节软骨损伤的疗效。我们发现，与空白组（无修复作用）相比，HUCWJ+细胞组和水凝胶+细胞组促进了软骨修复。每组在 6 个月时的治疗效果明显优于 3 个月时。HUCWJ 显示出比水凝胶更快的软骨修复能力。本研究表明，HUCWJ 可用于软骨组织工程，增强基于软骨细胞的软骨修复效果，为再生医学提供新的思路。
