Cartilage tissue regeneration from bone marrow cells by RWV bioreactor using collagen sponge scaffold

Three dimensional culture techniques have attracted much attention in the field of tissue engineering. Among them, the RWV (rotating wall vessel) bioreactor, which simulates a microgravity environment for cells, is becoming recognized as a useful tool for several kinds of the cells for tissue regeneration such as chondrocytes, osteoblasts etc. In this paper, we report successful control of the cartilage tissue shape from rabbit bone marrow cells by RWV bioreactor using a collagen sponge scaffold. Moreover, the used scaffold was proved to enhance the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content and strengthened the compression strength of the product, which reached 0.9 MPa in only one-week RWV culture. The usage of a collagen sponge scaffold shortened the necessary culture period for tissue transplantation.