Recombinant human FGF18 preserves depth-dependent mechanical inhomogeneity in articular cartilage.

Recombinant human FGF18 preserves depth-dependent mechanical inhomogeneity in articular cartilage. Eur Cell Mater. 2019 Aug 08;38:23-34 Authors: Meloni GR, Farran A, Mohanraj B, Guehring H, Cocca R, Rabut E, Mauck RL, Dodge GR Abstract Articular cartilage is a specialised tissue that has a relatively homogenous endogenous cell population but a diverse extracellular matrix (ECM), with depth-dependent mechanical properties. Repair of this tissue remains an elusive clinical goal, with biological interventions preferred to arthroplasty in younger patients. Osteochondral transplantation (OCT) has emerged for the treatment of cartilage defects and osteoarthritis. Fresh allografts stored at 4 °C have been utilised, though matrix and cell viability loss remains an issue. To address this, several studies have developed media formulations to maintain cartilage explants in vitro. One promising factor for these applications is sprifermin, a human-recombinant fibroblast growth factor-18, which stimulates chondrocyte proliferation and matrix synthesis and is in clinical trials for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The study hypothesis was that addition of sprifermin during storage would maintain the unique depth-dependent mechanical profile of articular cartilage explants, a feature not often evaluated. Explants were maintained for up to 6 weeks with or without a weekly 24 h exposure to sprifermin (100 ng/mL) and the compressive modulus was assess...
Source: European Cells and Materials - Category: Cytology Tags: Eur Cell Mater Source Type: research