One stage osteochondral repair with cartilage fragments in a hyaluronic acid/fibrin glue/platelet rich plasma scaffold: in vitro human and in vivo rabbit and goat animal model.

Treatment of articular cartilage lesions is an orthopaedic common issue. This study shows a new ‘‘one-stage’’ surgical procedure for cartilage repair combining ‘‘in situ’’ minced autologous cartilage fragments, as source of viable cells, with a resorbable scaffold composed of hyaluronic acid derivative (Hyaff-11), fibrin glue and platelet rich plasma. In vitro, chondrocytes from cartilage fragments migrate and proliferated into the scaffold both in human and in animal (rabbit and goat) explant cultures. In vivo osteochondral defects were created in 30 adult rabbit knees and 16 goat knees; defects were either treated with cartilage fragments embedded in the scaffold (Group A) or loaded with scaffold alone (Group B) or left untreated (Group C). Repair process was evaluated with morphological, histological and immunohistochemical analysis. In goat, treated defects have also been evaluated with nanoindentation and results compared with normal trochelar goat cartilage. This study suggests that minced autologous cartilage fragments embedded in a HA/PRP/fibrin scaffold provide a viable source of cells and chondrogenic stimuli for a simple one-stage non-culture-based repair of osteochondral defects in a rabbit and goat model.