The field of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) condyle regeneration is hampered by a limited understanding of the phenotype and regeneration potential of cells in mandibular condyle cartilage. It has been shown that chondrocytes derived from hyaline and costal cartilage exhibit a greater chondro-regenerative potential in vitro than those from mandibular condylar cartilage. However, our recent in vivo studies suggest that mandibular condyle cartilage cells do have the potential for cartilage regeneration in osteochondral defects, but that bone regeneration is inadequate. The objective of this study was to determine the regeneration potential of cartilage and bone cells from goat mandibular condyles in two different photocrosslinkable hydrogel systems, PGH and methacrylated gelatin, compared to the well-studied costal chondrocytes. PGH is composed of methacrylated poly(ethylene glycol), gelatin, and heparin. Histology, biochemistry and unconfined compression testing was performed after 4 weeks of culture. For bone derived cells, histology showed that PGH inhibited mineralization, while gelatin supported it. For chondrocytes, costal chondrocytes had robust glycosaminoglycan (GAG) deposition in both PGH and gelatin, and compression properties on par with native condylar cartilage in gelatin. However, they showed signs of hypertrophy in gelatin but not PGH. Conversely, mandibular condyle cartilage chondrocytes only had high GAG deposition in gelatin but not in PGH. These appeared to remain dormant in PGH. These results show that mandibular condyle cartilage cells do have innate regeneration potential but that they are more sensitive to hydrogel material than costal cartilage cells.

颞下颌关节 (TMJ) 髁突再生领域受到对下颌髁突软骨细胞表型和再生潜力的有限了解的阻碍。已经表明，来自透明软骨和肋软骨的软骨细胞在体外表现出比来自下颌髁软骨的软骨细胞更大的软骨再生潜力。然而，我们最近在体内研究表明，下颌髁突软骨细胞确实具有在骨软骨缺损中进行软骨再生的潜力，但骨再生不足。本研究的目的是确定两种不同的光交联水凝胶系统（PGH 和甲基丙烯酸化明胶）中山羊下颌骨髁的软骨和骨细胞与经过充分研究的肋软骨细胞相比的再生潜力。PGH 由甲基丙烯酸化聚（乙二醇）、明胶和肝素组成。培养 4 周后进行组织学、生物化学和无侧限压力测试。对于骨衍生细胞，组织学显示 PGH 抑制矿化，而明胶支持它。对于软骨细胞，肋软骨细胞在 PGH 和明胶中都有强烈的糖胺聚糖 (GAG) 沉积，和压缩性能与明胶中的天然髁软骨相当。然而，它们在明胶中显示出肥大的迹象，但在 PGH 中没有。相反，下颌髁突软骨细胞仅在明胶中具有高 GAG 沉积，而在 PGH 中则没有。这些似乎在 PGH 中保持休眠状态。这些结果表明，下颌骨髁软骨细胞确实具有先天再生潜力，但它们对水凝胶材料的敏感性高于肋软骨细胞。