Mahboubeh Sadat Mousavi - Department of Life Science Engineering, Research Center for New Technologies in Life Science Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran
Seyed Hossein Mahfouzi - Department of Life Science Engineering, Research Center for New Technologies in Life Science Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran
Seyed Hamid Safiabadi-Tali - Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Reza Safari - Department of Life Science Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Iran

IntroductionCartilage tissue engineering tends to construct comparable cartilages in terms of structure, composition and mechanical functionality to native articular ones. Cartilage ECM has potentially chondroinductive nature, and it is a promising biomaterial for regenerating cartilage. One possible way to produce comparable tissues would be to decellularize xenogenic in such a way that the structure of the tissue is maintained.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to develop a bioreactor to efficiently decellularize bovine articular cartilage grafts and to identify a methodology to enhance the porosity of this kind of tissues.MethodsTo this end, channels (Ø 180 μm) were first introduced into cylindrical articular cartilage explants which were then decellularized with a combination of various steps and various chemical reagents including 0.5% (w/v) SDS and nucleases in a bioreactor.ResultsUsing this bioreactor with channeled cartilages resulted in complete removal of chondrocytes as indicated by H&E staining. The introduction of channels not only had no detrimental effect on the biochemical properties of the decellularized tissue but also maintained the mechanical functionality.ConclusionTo conclude, this study describes a novel bioreactor for decellularizing bovine channeled articular cartilages. The bioreactor efficiently decellularized bovine articular cartilages while maintaining their essential characteristics needed for producing functional tissues

Articular cartilage, Bioreactor, Decellularization, Tissue engineering, Regenerative medicine