Unprecedented research into the formation of cartilage (chondrogenesis), using stem cells extracted from human amniotic fluid, has provided promising results for the future production of a gel biodressing for joint injuries. The study began six years ago and secured first place among the basic research presented during the Advanced Rheumatology Meeting - ERA, held last month in São Paulo.
The person responsible for the research is biologist Carolina Coli Zuliani from the Cartilage Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Unicamp. The study called “Comparison of the efficiency of chondrogenesis of stem cells from human amniotic fluid in micromass and in 3D magnetic cell culture” is part of the biologist's doctorate and is supervised by professor Ibsen Bellini Coimbra, from the discipline of rheumatology.
According to the researcher, the study aims to evaluate the formation of chondrocytes in two tissue culture techniques: micromass and 3D magnetic. Studies have proven that the micromass technique is the best option for differentiating stem cells from amniotic fluid into chondrocytes for collagen production.
The micromass technique has been used in the laboratory since 2010, promoting the differentiation of stem cells into chondrocytes through high-density cultivation by sedimentation. In parallel to this technique, a new methodology was tested with magnetic starters forming 3D structures.
21 days later, the researcher histologically evaluated the tissues formed in both methodologies, and the micromass technique proved to be the most efficient with greater extracellular matrix formation.
“This was the first part of my doctoral thesis and now we intend to incorporate the material into a hydrogel in search of the regeneration of tissues with cartilage injuries in animals and in the future in orthopedic patients at the Hospital de Clínicas da Unicamp”, explains Zuliani.
Cartilage is a tissue made up of cells called chondrocytes and an extracellular matrix, formed mainly by collagen and proteoglycans produced by the cells themselves.
However, he explains, because cartilage is a tissue with low metabolism, does not have blood or lymphatic vessels, nor innervation, it has a low capacity for natural regeneration, which makes it difficult to treat cartilage injuries resulting from trauma or diseases such as osteoarthritis. “Research like this that seeks to develop techniques for the regeneration of injured cartilage is fundamental.”
