15502-m-pleumeekers

differences between mixed-cell-type and single-cell-type populations: h BMSC/ b NCs produced significantly more sGAG and collagen per initial seeded PC compared to b NCs and h BMSC/ b ECs ( p <0.05). (Figure 4, right ) After subcutaneous implantation, the elastic modulus was highest in constructs containing b NCs, although large variation between samples was observed. (Figure 5) Figure 3. Cartilage matrix formation in constructs containing h BMSCs and/or chondrocytes, 8 weeks after subcutaneous implantation in mice. Macroscopic appearance ( top row ) of cartilage constructs, as well as a collagen type II immunohistochemical staining ( bottom row ), 8 weeks after subcutaneous implantation. h BMSC = human Bone-marrow-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell ( n=2 experiments with 2 different donors) ; b EC = bovine Ear Chondrocyte ( n=2 experiments with 3 pools of donors) ; b NC = bovine Nasal Chondrocyte ( n=2 experiments with 3 pools of donors). Per experiment, 2 samples were used for analyses. 118 CHAPTER 6