Objectives: Placental tissue is an established biomaterial used in many clinical applications. However, its use for tissue engineering purposes has not been fully realized. Though articular cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM)-derived oriented scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering were developed, resources are a hindrance to its application. In this regard, the present study investigated the feasibility of using intact decellularized human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly (hUC-WJ) as a new material for chondrocyte carrier in cartilage tissue engineering. The developed hUC-WJ scaffold provides a good microenvironment for the attachment, viability, and delivery of seeded human autologous chondrocytes. It has an advantage over other biomaterials in terms of abundant availability and similar biochemistry to cartilage ECM.
Materials and methods: hUC-WJ obtained from fresh human placenta were decellularized and gamma sterilized. Human cartilage tissue was obtained from the patients with a total knee replacement. The chondrocytes were isolated and expanded in-vitro and seeded onto the hUC-WJ scaffold. The efficiency of the decellularized tissue as a delivery system for human cartilage cells was investigated by histology, immunohistochemistry, cell count, flow cytometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Results: The results showed that the decellularized hUC-WJ scaffold has supported the microenvironment for chondrocyte attachment and viability without losing its phenotype. In addition, the cells were spread through the hUC-WJ scaffold as confirmed by histology and SEM.
Conclusion: Based on obtained results, the hUC-WJ scaffold has great potential as a 3D scaffold for human autologous chondrocyte carriers in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.
Keywords: Human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly; articular cartilage; autologous chondrocytes; decellularized; scaffold; tissue regeneration.