Biological Characteristics Of The Human Auricular Chondrocytes Cultured In Vitro

Objective: To investigate the culturing methods of human fetal auricular chondrocytes and to observe the biological characteristics.Methods: The human fetal auricular chondrocytes were isolated and cultured to observe morphological changes, growth curves and the expression of collagen II and aggrecan with RT-PCR method. The origin were identified by typeII collagen antibody by immunohistochemistry.Results: The human fetal auricular chondrocytes were transformed from polygan or triangle into the shape of the fibroblast-like cell with the generation increasing. Most cells of the sixth passage turned into that shape. The growth curve showed that the proliferation of the first to the fourth passage was powerful. The cells expressed type IIcollagen were identified as chondrocytes. The expression of collagen II was high before the third passage and decreased with the passage increasing in the mRNA level and that of the fifth passage was negative. The expression of aggrecan was high before the fourth passage and decreased with the passage increasing and that of the sixth passage is negative.Conclusion: The human fetal auricular chondrocytes from the first to the fourth passage seem suitable for human auricular cartilage engineering.Objective: To investigate the effects of donor age on biological characteristics of human auricular chondrocytes cultured in vitro.Methods: The human auricular chondrocytes from 28 patients ranging in age from 6 to 30 years were isolated and cultured. The comparison was done in morphology, population doubling time and the expression levels of collagen II and aggrecan with RT-PCR method.Results: The human auricular chondrocytes isolated from different age show the similar morphology .population doubling time and the expression levels of collagen II and aggrecan. The human auricular chondrocytes were transformed from polygan or triangle into the shape of the fibroblast-like cell with the generation increasing. Most cells of the fifth passage turned into that shape. The population doubling time showed that the proliferation of the first to the third passage was powerful. The expression of collagen II and aggrecan was high in the first and second passage, decreased in the third passage distinctly in the mRNA level and was negative after the fourth passage.Conclusion: The biological characteristics of human auricular chondrocytes seem to be dependence of donor age for the span from 6 to 30 years. The human auricular chondrocytes of the first and the second passage may be suitable for human auricular cartilage engineering.