Cartilage tissue has been recalcitrant to tissue engineering approaches. In this study, human chondrocytes were formed into self-assembled cartilage sheets, cultured in physiologic (5%) and atmospheric (20%) oxygen conditions and underwent biochemical, histological and biomechanical analysis at one- and two-months. The results indicated that sheets formed at physiological oxygen tension were thicker, contained greater amounts of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and type II collagen, and had greater compressive and tensile properties than those cultured in atmospheric oxygen. In all cases, cartilage sheets stained throughout for extracellular matrix components. Type II-IX-XI collagen heteropolymer formed in the neo-cartilage and fibrils were stabilized by trivalent pyridinoline cross-links. Collagen cross-links were not significantly affected by oxygen tension but increased with time in culture. Physiological oxygen tension and longer culture periods both served to increase extracellular matrix components. The foremost correlation was found between compressive stiffness and the GAG to collagen ratio.

中文翻译：

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物理缺氧刺激细胞外基质沉积并增加人类软骨细胞衍生的组织工程软骨的机械性能

软骨组织对于组织工程学方法是不利的。在这项研究中，人类软骨细胞形成了自组装的软骨片，在生理（5％）和大气（20％）的氧气条件下培养，并在一个月和两个月内进行了生化，组织学和生物力学分析。结果表明，在生理氧气张力下形成的薄片比在大气氧气中培养的薄片更厚，包含更多的糖胺聚糖（GAG）和II型胶原，并且具有更大的压缩和拉伸特性。在所有情况下，软骨板始终染色细胞外基质成分。在新的软骨和原纤维中形成的II-IX-XI型胶原蛋白杂聚物通过三价吡啶啉交联而稳定。胶原蛋白交联不受氧张力的显着影响，但随着培养时间的增加而增加。生理氧张力和较长的培养时间都有助于增加细胞外基质成分。在抗压刚度和GAG与胶原蛋白的比率之间发现了最重要的相关性。