Notice of RetractionDynamic Compression Alters Extracellular Matrix Biosynthesis of the Goat Temporomandibular Joint Disc Cells Cultured in Agarose Gel

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

We hereby retract the content of this paper. Reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper.

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It is necessary to clarify whether dynamic compression stimulates extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis in engineered constructs consisted of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc cells and agarose gel. Using a scaffoldless approach, the TMJ disc cells from eight approximately 1-month old goats as cell sources were self assembled with 2% agarose gel and cultured with two different conditions: the static group and the dynamic compression group. The dynamic group was given a compressive stress ranged 0~0.2MPa and 0.1Hz frequency, 4 hours a day, for 2 weeks. The static group was kept in routine culture. Histological staining and immunohistochemistry analysis for collagen type I was used to examine distribution and synthesis of ECM in constructs. The results revealed that fibrochondrogenic differentiation of the TMJ disc cells (i.e., their phenotypes) were maintained in agarose gel and expressed good cell proliferation and formation of ECM. The dynamic group appeared more production of type I collagen and glycosaminoglycans in the constructs than that of the static group. This study indicate that the proper periodic application of dynamic compression and by this self assembling approach can encourage TMJ disc cells to differentiate into fibrochondrocytes and enhance production of ECM, which is beneficial to planning of a strategy for TMJ disc tissue engineering.