Abstract
Tissue‐engineered osteochondral grafts have been synthesized from a variety of materials, with some success at repairing chondral defects in animal models. We hypothesized that in tissue‐engineered osteochondral grafts synthesized by bonding mesenchymal stem cell‐loaded hydrogels to a porous material, the choice of the porous scaffold would affect graft healing to host bone, and the quality of cell restoration at the hyaline cartilage surface. Bone marrow‐derived allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells were suspended in hydrogels that were attached to cylinders of porous tantalum metal, allograft bone, or a bioactive glass. The tissue‐engineered osteochondral grafts, thus created were implanted into experimental defects in rabbit knees. Subchondral bone restoration, defect fill, bone ingrowth‐implant integration, and articular tissue quality were compared between the three subchondral materials at 6 and 12 weeks. Bioactive glass and porous tantalum were superior to bone allograft in integrating to adjacent host bone, regenerating hyaline‐like tissue at the graft surface, and expressing type II collagen in the articular cartilage. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2010