A novel macroporous polyvinyl alcohol scaffold promotes chondrocyte migration and interface formation in an in vitro cartilage defect model.

Scaffold-cartilage integration is critical for the clinical success of a scaffold used for the repair of a focal cartilage defect. In this study, a macroporous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) scaffold was found to facilitate chondrocyte infiltration and interfacial matrix formation in a juvenile bovine in vitro cartilage defect model. These results were found to depend on the press-fit between the scaffold and the cartilage, pretreatment of the cartilage with collagenase prior to scaffold insertion, and chondrocyte preseeding of the scaffold. Infiltrated and preseeded chondrocytes in the scaffold survived for 6 weeks in culture and resulted in sufficient matrix at the interface to significantly increase the interface shear strength 30-fold that compared favorably with the interface shear strength of cartilage-cartilage constructs. The ability of this macroporous PVA scaffold to form a stable interface with articular cartilage demonstrates the potential use of this scaffold design for focal cartilage defect repair.