Fabrication of mesenchymal stem cell sheets for tendon/ligament tissue engineering

Abstract

The fabrication of mesenchymal stem cell sheets for tendon/ligament tissue engineering was analyzed. The cells were derived from bone marrow aspirated from the iliac crest. Nucleated cells were isolated by density gradient centrifugation over Ficoll/Paque. After mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from bone marrow by adherence to plastic, they were cultured in the presence of ascorbic acid. The cultured sheet of living cells was assembled with knitted scaffolds by wrapping technique and kept in cell culture condition for 4 weeks. The macro morphology, histology and biomechanics of the graft were evaluated. It was observed that the bone marrow derived adherent cells can form cell sheet quickly with the addition of ascorbic acid.