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Age Dependence of Cellular Properties of Human Septal Cartilage
Implications for Tissue Engineering
Nicole Rotter, MD;
Lawrence J. Bonassar, PhD;
Geoffrey Tobias, MD;
Martin Lebl, MD;
Amit K. Roy, PhD;
Charles A. Vacanti, MD
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2001;127:1248-1252.
Background The persistent need for cartilage replacement material in head and neck
surgery has led to novel cell culture methods developed to engineer cartilage.
Currently, there is no consensus on an optimal source of cells for these endeavors.
Objectives To evaluate human nasal cartilage as a potential source of chondrocytes
and to determine the effect of donor age on cellular and proliferation characteristics.
Subjects Nasal cartilage specimens were obtained after reconstructive surgery
from 46 patients ranging in age from 15 to 60 years.
Methods Specimens were weighed and chondrocytes were isolated by digestion in
0.2% collagenase type II for 16 hours. Cells were maintained in primary cultures
until confluency, then seeded onto polylactic acid–polyglycolic acid
scaffolds. Seeding efficency was determined by quantification of DNA content
of seeded constructs by means of Hoechst dye 33258. Specimen weights, cell
yields, cell content, and doubling time were also measured and correlated
to donor age.
Results Mean (±SD) cartilage mass obtained (648 ± 229 mg) is higher
than from typical biopsy specimens of auricular cartilage, and the cellular
characteristics show a higher proliferation rate than auricular chondrocytes.
Cell yield increased with age, while doubling time decreased with age in samples
from patients ranging from 15 to 60 years old.
Conclusions The use of nasal septal cartilage as a source of cells for tissue engineering
may be valid over a wide range of patient ages. The large tissue yield and
consequent cell yield make this tissue a potential starting source of chondrocytes
for large-volume tissue-engineered implants.
From the Center for Tissue Engineering, Department of Anesthesiology,
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (Drs Rotter, Bonassar,
Lebl, Roy, and Vacanti); Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck
Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany (Dr Rotter);
and Department of Otolaryngology, Englewood Hospital, Englewood, NJ (Dr Tobias).
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