Objective To evaluate collagen（Col）hyaluronan (HA) chondroitin sulfate (CS) tri-copolymer as a new biomimetic biodegradable polymer scaffold for application of the articular cartilage tissue engineering. Methods The Col-HACS tricopolymer was prepared by freezing and lyophilization and was cross-linked by 1-ethyl-3(3-dimethy inaminoproyl) carbodiimide (EDC). The morpholog icalcharacteristics of the matrices were evaluated by the SME and HE stainings. The
rabbit chondrocytes were isolated and seeded in the tricopolymer scaffold. Morphology, proliferation and differentiation of glycosaminoglycan (GAG), and phenotypic expression of the rabbit articular chondrocytes cultured within the tricopolymer scaffold were indicated by the histological examination, SEM, biochemica l analysis, and reverse transcriptase PCR for collagen typeⅡ（ColⅡ）. Results The chondrocytes proliferated and differentiated well, and th
ey preserved the phenotypic expression of ColⅡ in the Col-HA-CS scaffold. After the 21day cell culture within the Col-HA-CS scaffolds, the cartilage-specific morphologyand the structural characteristics such as lacunae appeared，and DNA and GAG conten ts increased with the time. In addition, DNA and GAG contents were significantly higher in the Col-HA-CS matrix than in the collagen matrix alone (P lt;0.05 ). Conclusion These results show that the Col-HA-CS tri-copolymer matrices can provide an appropriate environment for the generation of cartilage-like tissues and have a potential application in the cartilage tissue engineering scaffold field.

Citation： YAN Jihong,LIU Lingrong,LI Xuemin,et al.. A POTENTIAL USE OF COLLAGEN-HYALURONAN-CHONDROITIN SULFATE TRI-COPOLYMER SCAF FOLD FOR CARTILAGE TISSUE ENGINEERING. Chinese Journal of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery, 2006, 20(2): 130-133. doi: Copy