Abstract
AbstractArticular cartilage is a highly anti-compressional and anti-frictional tissue and its main function is to confer bone resistance to and facilitate transduction of mechanical stress. Due to the lack of vascular system, the ability of self-repair in cartilage is limited. To provide abundant supply tissues to repair the defects in cartilage, it is nowadays important to cultivate cartilages by tissue engineering techniques. In this study, a novel bioreactor system (rotating-axis bioreactor) was designed for culturing of chondrocytes using three dimensional, porous PLGA (poly(L-lactic-co-glycolic acid)) scaffolds and operational parameters in the bioreactor were investigated. Our results demonstrate that the chondrocytes proliferated and differented normally and the morphologies of many cells after 4 weeks were similar to the chondrocytes in normal cartilage. Besides, the glycosaminoglycan（GAG） and collagen secretion increased over time in the bioreactor, which might confer better mechanical properties to the construct. In summary, this novel rotating-axis bioreactor enables cells to grow and secrete extracellular matrix steadily and can be applied to chondrocyte cultivation in vitro.