Extracellular Matrix Scaffold Using Decellularized Cartilage for Hyaline Cartilage Regeneration

The repair of osteochondral defects is among the top ten medical needs of humans in the 21st centuries with many countries facing rapidly aging population involved with osteoarthritis as a major contributor to global disease burden. Tissue engineering methods have offered new windows of hope to treat such disorders and disabilities. Regenerative approaches to cartilage injuries require careful replication of the complex microenvironment of the native tissue. The decellularized hyaline cartilage derived from human allografts or xenografts is potentially an ideal scaffold, simulating the mechanical and biochemical properties, as well as biological microarchitecture of the hyaline cartilage. There have been many attempts to regenerate clinically viable hyaline cartilage tissue using decellularized cartilage-derived extracellular matrix with stem cell technology. This chapter describes the reproducible methods for hyaline cartilage decellularization and recellularization. In addition, quality control and characterization requirements of the product at each step, as well as the clinical applications of final product have been discussed.