Tissue Engineering of Hypertrophic Cartilage for Bone Repair using Nasal Chondrocytes

Introduction Reconstruction of large bone defects using tissue engineered or native bone tissue remains a major challenge. An alternative approach is to create a hypertrophic cartilage template which can undergo mineralisation. Formation of hypertrophic cartilage occurs during natural or induced repair of bone. This tissue can survive a low oxygen environment and produces factors which stimulate vascularisation and osteogenesis. The study aim was to produce an early neo-hypertrophic cartilage in vitro using nasal chondrocytes (an easily accessible, clinically relevant cell source) and evaluate its potential for mineralisation in vivo.