Functional assessment of tissue-engineered meniscal cartilage by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.

A perfusion bioreactor system was used to grow bioartificial meniscal cartilage tissue in vitro. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy methods were used to characterize the flow and perfusion profiles and the growth, distribution, and bioenergetics of the fibrochondrocytes in the resulting constructs. These measurements were correlated with each other and with subsequent histologic analysis. The study has demonstrated that these noninvasive magnetic resonance methods will be useful for designing bioreactor operation strategies and cell scaffolds that lead to the production of tissue-engineered meniscal cartilage constructs with properties resembling those of the native tissue.