@article {15662, title = {Injectable Gellan Gum Hydrogels With Autologous Cells for theTreatment of Rabbit Articular Cartilage Defects}, journal = {Journal of Orthopaedic Research}, volume = {Epubaheadofprint}, year = {2010}, month = {2010-04-13 00:00:00}, abstract = {

In this work, the ability of gellan gum hydrogels coupled with autologous cells to regenerate rabbit full-thickness articular
cartilage defects was tested. Five study groups were defined: (a) gellangumwith encapsulated chondrogenic predifferentiated rabbit adipose
stem cells (ASC{\th}GF); (b) gellan gum with encapsulated nonchondrogenic predifferentiated rabbit adipose stem cells (ASC); (c) gellan gum
with encapsulated rabbit articular chondrocytes (AC) (standard control); (d) gellan gum alone (control); (e) empty defect (control). Fullthickness
articular cartilage defects were created and the gellangum constructs were injected and left for 8 weeks. The macroscopic aspect of
the explants showed a progressive increase of similarity with the lateral native cartilage, stable integration at the defect site, more
pronouncedly in the cell-loaded constructs. Tissue scoring showed that ASC{\th}GF exhibited the best results regarding tissue quality
progression. Alcian blue retrieved similar results with a better outcome for the cell-loaded constructs. Regarding real-time PCR analyses,
ASC{\th}GF had the best progression with an upregulation of collagen type II and aggrecan, and a downregulation of collagen type I. Gellan
gum hydrogels combined with autologous cells constitute a promising approach for the treatment of articular cartilage defects, and adipose
derived cellsmayconstitute a valid alternative to currently used articular chondrocytes.

}, keywords = {cartilage, Gellan Gum, In vivo, Stem cells, Tissue engineering}, author = {Oliveira, J. T. and Gardel, L. S. and Rada, T. and Martins, L. and Gomes, M. E. and Reis, R. L.} }