Application of microfibrillar collagen hemostat sponge for cartilage engineering

The imperfections of scaffold materials have been hindering the development of cartilage tissue engineering. AviteneTM UltraFoamTM sponge, known as an active absorbable microfibrillar collagen hemostat (MCH) is an FDA approved medical material for in vivo application. Its safety and efficacy has been clinically tested over 30 years. This study aimed to investigate the application of the MCH sponge in cartilage engineering. The properties of the MCH bricks seeded with rabbit auricular chondrocyte and the feasibility of cartilage engineering was investigated via in vitro and in vivo study. Primary extracellular matrix (ECM) formation and type II collagen expression was detected in the pre-cultured constructs, and constructs implanted into nude mice for 8 weeks as well. Dry MCH sponge bricks without cell-seeding were implanted as controls. At 8 weeks post-implantation, mature cartilage blocks were harvested. The morphology of newly formed cartilage appeared typical mature cartilaginous tissue. The MCH collagen material had not been completely degraded both in the engineered cartilage tissue and control bricks. In conclusion, the microfibrillar collagen hemostat sponge might be an ideal candidate scaffold material in cartilage tissue engineering for clinical application.