Abstract
Intra-articular injection of different types of blood-derived products is gaining popularity and clinical importance in the treatment of degenerative cartilage disorders such as osteoarthritis. The regenerative potential of two types of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), prepared in the presence of EDTA (EPRP) and citrate (CPRP) and an alternative blood product-hyperacute serum (hypACT) was evaluated using a 3D osteoarthritic chondrocyte pellet model by assessing the metabolic cell activity, cartilage-related gene expression and extracellular matrix deposition within the pellets. Chondrocyte viability was determined by XTT assay and it revealed no significant difference in metabolic activity of OA chondrocyte pellets after supplementation with different blood products. Nevertheless, the selection of blood products influenced the cartilage-related genes expression, ECM morphology and the tissue quality of pellets. Both PRP types had a different biological effect depending upon concentration and even though CPRP is widely used in clinics our assessment did not reveal good results in gene expression either tissue quality. HypACT supplementation resulted in superior cartilage-related genes expression together with tissue quality and seemed to be the most stable product since no remarkable changes were observed between the two different concentrations. All in all, for successful regenerative therapy, possible molecular mechanisms induced by blood-derived products should be always carefully investigated and adapted to the specific medical indications.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common form of degenerative, joint destructive disease affecting 70% of the population beyond 70, where up to 30% of the cases are symptomatic.Due to demographic changes, this number is likely to increase [1,2]
Blood products: hyperacute serum (hypACT), leukocyte-poor PRP prepared from blood anticoagulated with EDTA (EPRP) and leukocyte-poor PRP prepared from blood anticoagulated with trisodium citrate (CPRP) were produced from whole blood collected from 9 healthy donors
Of hypACT, EPRP and CPRP, did not reveal any significant changes in metabolic activity versus the control group supplemented with 1% FCS (Figure 1)
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common form of degenerative, joint destructive disease affecting 70% of the population beyond 70, where up to 30% of the cases are symptomatic.Due to demographic changes, this number is likely to increase [1,2]. The underlying pathophysiology of OA is multifactorial, the combination of factors such as age, progressive cartilage degeneration and joint inflammation seems to be crucial to its etiology [3]. Minor cartilage injuries may heal on their own within a few weeks, but fullthickness defects have a poor capacity for repair and it may lead to OA [4,5]. Regenerative therapy is a novel strategy to stimulate proliferation and matrix synthesis of chondrocytes and neighbouring cells to restore a normal structure and function of damaged cartilage. Different studies have proposed the use of platelet derivatives in order to facilitate the repair system of bones and cartilages [6]. In vitro experiments showed that platelet-richplasma (PRP) supplementation enhances proliferation, migration and matrix biosynthesis of articular chondrocytes [7]
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