background dedifferentiation of chondrocytes remains a major problem for cartilage tissue engineering. chondrocytes loss differentiated phenotype in in vitro culture that is undesired for repair strategies. the chondrocyte is surrounded by a pericellular matrix (pcm), together forming the chondron. pcm has a positive effect on the maintenance of chondrocyte phenotype during culture in compariso...

BACKGROUND Dedifferentiation of chondrocytes remains a major problem for cartilage tissue engineering. Chondrocytes loss differentiated phenotype in in vitro culture that is undesired for repair strategies. The chondrocyte is surrounded by a pericellular matrix (PCM), together forming the chondron. PCM has a positive effect on the maintenance of chondrocyte phenotype during culture in compar...

when grown in monolayer culture at low density and with the addition of serum, cartilage cells dedifferentiate or are overgrown by fibroblast-like cells. the aim of this study was to optimize the cultivation of chondrocytes in monolayer culture and to slow down their transformation or their overgrowth by fibroblast-like cells. the interaction between chondrocytes and cartilage-specifc matrix is...

Loss of hyaline chondrocyte phenotype during the monolayer culture in vitro is a major obstacle for cell-based articular cartilage repair. Increasing evidence implicates an important role of the epigenetic regulation in maintaining the chondrocyte phenotype. DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNAs have all been shown to contribute to chondrocyte dedifferentiation and hypertrophy. M...

The aim of this study is to demonstrate that improving the mitochondrial function can inhibite the loss of chondrocyte phenotype by regulating the expression of uncoupling protein 2(UCP2) and NADPH oxidase1/4(NOX1/4) to reduce the production of reactive oxygen species(ROS). The effects of mitochondrial biogenesis "master regular" peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (...

During ex vivo growth as monolayer cultures, chondrocytes proliferate and undergo a process of de-differentiation. This process involves a change in morphology and a change from expression of chondrocyte-specific genes to that of genes that are normally expressed in fibroblasts. Transfer of the monolayer chondrocyte culture to three-dimensional culture systems induces the cells to re-acquire a ...

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) modulate cell growth and differentiation by governing chromatin structure and repressing the activity of specific transcription factors. We showed previously that HDAC9 acts as a negative regulator of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and skeletal muscle differentiation. Here we report that HDAC4, which is expressed in prehypertrophic chondrocytes, regulates chondrocyte hyp...

BACKGROUND Autologous chondrocyte transplantation is a promising technique for treatment of cartilage defects. Three dimensional chondrocyte cultures on a scaffold are widely used to retain the chondrogenic phenotype. Using a biodegradable gelatin scaffold is one option for the cell delivery system, but molecular and histological studies of the method have not yet been done. METHODS We evalua...

Normal human adult articular chondrocytes were used to determine how the chondrocyte phenotype is modulated by culture conditions following long-term culture. We report here for the first time that human articular chondrocytes have a lifespan in the range of 34-37 population doublings. While chondrocytes cultured as monolayers displayed a fibroblastoid morphology and grew faster, those cultured...