Maintenance of cartilaginous gene expression on extracellular matrix derived from serially passaged chondrocytes during in vitro chondrocyte expansion

The loss of cartilaginous phenotype during in vitro expansion culture of chondrocytes is a major barrier for the application of cartilage tissue engineering. The use of matrices mimicking the in vivo extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment is anticipated to be an efficient method to suppress chondrocyte phenotype loss. In this study, we developed several types of ECM derived from serially passaged chondrocytes for use as cell‐culture substrata and compared their effects on chondrocyte functions. Primary bovine chondrocytes and serially passaged chondrocytes (at passages 2 and 6) were cultured on tissue‐culture polystyrene. After culture, the cellular components were selectively removed from the ECM deposited by the cells. The remaining ECM proteins were used as cell‐culture substrata. The composition of the deposited ECM depended on the culture stage of the serially passaged chondrocytes used for the ECM production. The deposited ECM supported the adhesion and proliferation of chondrocytes. The effects of the ECM on the chondrocyte dedifferentiation during in vitro passage culture differed dramatically depending on the phenotype of the chondrocytes used to produce the ECM. The primary chondrocyte‐derived ECM delayed the chondrocyte dedifferentiation during in vitro passage culture and is a good candidate for chondrocyte subculture for tissue engineering. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2012.