Shape Fidelity of Human Nasal Septal Neocartilage Constructs

Objective: 1) To show that human septal neocartilage constructs possess comparable shape fidelity to native human septal tissue. 2) To demonstrate that the biochemical properties of human septal neocartilage constructs are unaffected by imposed bending and are equivalent to those of free-swelling controls. Method: Human septal chondrocytes from 9 donors were used to create 12-mm constructs. These were cultured for a total of 10 weeks and subjected to bending for 6 days. Free-swelling controls and native tissue were used for comparison. Shape retention, photo documentation, live-dead staining, and biochemical properties were measured. Results: Live-dead staining showed no difference in cell survival between shaped constructs and free-swelling controls. The immediate shape retention of the constructs was 39.0% versus 23.5% for native tissue (P = .06). After 2 hours of relaxation, the constructs possessed similar shape retention to native tissue (26.9% and 20.6%, respectively; P = .073). There was a significant decrease in shape retention from immediately after release to 2 hours of relaxation (23.5% and 18.9%, respectively; P = .01). However, the retention did not change significantly between 2 and 24 hours of relaxation (18.9%; P = .11). There was no significant difference in biochemical properties between shaped constructs and free-swelling controls. Conclusion: The shape retention properties of human septal neocartilage constructs are similar to human native septal cartilage. In addition, bending of neocartilage constructs does not adversely affect cell viability or biochemical properties. This study demonstrates that neocartilage constructs possess adequate shape fidelity for use as septal cartilage graft material.