Quantitative ultrasound can assess the regeneration process of tissue-engineered cartilage using a complex between adherent bone marrow cells and a three-dimensional scaffold
Quantitative ultrasound can assess the regeneration process of tissue-engineered cartilage using a complex between adherent bone marrow cells and a three-dimensional scaffold
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DOI：
10.1186/ar1710
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发表时间：
2005-01-01
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
Ikeuchi, K
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hattori, K;Takakura, Y;Ikeuchi, K
关节软骨(透明软骨)由创伤或退行性关节疾病引起的缺陷不会自发修复。因此，这种缺陷可能需要新的再生策略来恢复生物和生物力学功能的组织。近年来，利用细胞和支架的复合体进行组织工程已成为修复软骨缺损和恢复软骨功能的一种新方法。随着这项新技术的出现，准确评估关节软骨的方法变得重要起来。特别是，体内评估对于确定最佳治疗方案至关重要。然而，如果没有活检，关节软骨就不能在临床上得到准确的评估。我们开发了一种新的关节软骨评估系统，其中通过在膝关节镜检查中引入超声探头来测量软骨的声学特性。本研究的目的是在兔膝关节缺损处植入细胞/支架复合体的实验模型中，确定该超声系统在评估组织工程软骨方面的有效性。利用小波变换将关节软骨超声回波信号变换为小波图。在小波图上，以最大值百分比(手术侧膝关节测量面积的最大值除以对侧未手术侧完整软骨的最大值；%MM)作为软骨再生的定量指标。利用这一指标，对组织工程软骨进行了检测，以阐明超声分析与生化和组织学分析之间的关系。随着种植体植入时间的延长，%MM逐渐增加，组织学检查所得的透明样软骨标本的%MM均较高，且%MM与半定量组织学分级评分之间存在相关性。在生化结果中，硫酸软骨素的含量随着种植体的时间推移而增加，而羟脯氨酸的含量保持不变。硫酸软骨素的含量与%MM值的结果相似。超声波测量被发现可以预测组织工程软骨的再生过程，作为一种微创方法。因此，使用小波图的超声评价可以支持使用细胞/支架复合体的组织工程软骨的评价。
Articular cartilage ( hyaline cartilage) defects resulting from traumatic injury or degenerative joint disease do not repair themselves spontaneously. Therefore, such defects may require novel regenerative strategies to restore biologically and biomechanically functional tissue. Recently, tissue engineering using a complex of cells and scaffold has emerged as a new approach for repairing cartilage defects and restoring cartilage function. With the advent of this new technology, accurate methods for evaluating articular cartilage have become important. In particular, in vivo evaluation is essential for determining the best treatment. However, without a biopsy, which causes damage, articular cartilage cannot be accurately evaluated in a clinical context. We have developed a novel system for evaluating articular cartilage, in which the acoustic properties of the cartilage are measured by introducing an ultrasonic probe during arthroscopy of the knee joint. The purpose of the current study was to determine the efficacy of this ultrasound system for evaluating tissue-engineered cartilage in an experimental model involving implantation of a cell/scaffold complex into rabbit knee joint defects. Ultrasonic echoes from the articular cartilage were converted into a wavelet map by wavelet transformation. On the wavelet map, the percentage maximum magnitude ( the maximum magnitude of the measurement area of the operated knee divided by that of the intact cartilage of the opposite, nonoperated knee; %MM) was used as a quantitative index of cartilage regeneration. Using this index, the tissue-engineered cartilage was examined to elucidate the relations between ultrasonic analysis and biochemical and histological analyses. The %MM increased over the time course of the implant and all the hyaline-like cartilage samples from the histological findings had a high %MM. Correlations were observed between the %MM and the semiquantitative histologic grading scale scores from the histological findings. In the biochemical findings, the chondroitin sulfate content increased over the time course of the implant, whereas the hydroxyproline content remained constant. The chondroitin sulfate content showed a similarity to the results of the %MM values. Ultrasonic measurements were found to predict the regeneration process of the tissue-engineered cartilage as a minimally invasive method. Therefore, ultrasonic evaluation using a wavelet map can support the evaluation of tissue-engineered cartilage using cell/scaffold complexes.