Chondrogenesis by free and vascularized rabbit auricular perichondrium.

Many qualitative studies examining the chondrogenic potential of perichondrium have suggested that it may be useful for airway reconstruction. This study was performed to quantitatively evaluate cartilage formation by free and vascularized rabbit perichondrium placed in sterile and contaminated (airway) environments for 8 weeks. The mean cartilage thickness for free sterile perichondrium was 0.09 mm, for free contaminated perichondrium was 0.13 mm, for vascularized sterile perichondrium was 0.16 mm, and for vascularized contaminated perichondrium was 0.44 mm. Contaminated vascularized grafts produced significantly more cartilage when compared to both sterile vascularized grafts (p = .001) and contaminated free grafts (p < .001). No differences in cartilage formation were seen between sterile and contaminated free grafts (p = .198), or between free and vascularized grafts that were sterile (p = .170). These findings support further investigation of airway reconstruction with vascularized perichondrial grafts.