Implication of Intraarticular Injection of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells for the Treatment of Knee Chondral Injuries: An In Vivo Study

Background and Aim: The treatment of post-traumatic knee chondraldefects is still a therapeutic challenge. The limited regenerative capacityof resident chondrocytes has led to the introduction of stem cell-basedtherapies as a novel therapeutic approach. Recently, adipose-derivedstem cell (ADSC) may provide regenerative potentials for cartilageinjuries. The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness ofisolated adipose-derived stem cells to repair knee chondral injuriesthrough in vivo models of study.Methods: The study population included ten sheep models of surgicallyimposed knee chondral injuries. The right joint of each was regarded asa control sample and the left as the experimental joint. The ADSCs were obtained from the intra-articular fat pad of each animal before inducinginjury. A mean of 105 stem cells was prepared and seeded into 4*4 mm ofscaffold tissues, then were administered to the selected knees of animals.After six months, cartilage samples were extracted from both knee jointsand macroscopic morphology of defect site as well as molecular andimmunohistochemistry (IHC) of samples was studied.Results: Macroscopic morphology of the experimental sample showedmuch improvement in chondral regeneration compared to controlsamples. Histological evaluation demonstrated thick, hyaline-likecartilage regeneration. Enhanced metachromatic regions stainedwith toluidine blue in treatment groups implied the increased levelof proteoglycan molecules during the healing process. IHC resultsrevealed a significantly increased level of collagen type 2 expressionsin the extracellular matrix in treatment samples compared to controls(P<0.001).Conclusion: Our study revealed that intra-articular injection of ADSCprovokes regeneration of meniscal tissue, and has promising results inthe treatment of knee cartilage injuries.

کلیدواژه ها:

Adipose-Derived Stem Cell ، Knee Cartilage ، Chondrocytogenesis ، Injury ، Regeneration