| 초록 |
Chondrocytes are the only cells in cartilage tissue which is consisted of proteoglycans and collagens. Chondrocytes communicate with surrounding environments to develop tissues through the interactions between cell and extracellular matrix (ECM). In addition, chondrocytes condense themselves at the early stage of chondrogenic differentiation through the cell-cell interactions. However, the effects of the cell-cell interactions are still unclear for chondrogenesis in tissue engineering. To mimic the 3-D microenvironment, cell-polymer and cell-cell interactions were regulated by RGD peptide modification and encapsulated cell number, respectively. We investigated the ECM formation and chondrogenic marker gene expression of 3-D encapsulated cells in alginate gels. We confirmed that both cell-polymer and cell-cell interactions were synergistically important to induce chondrogenic differentiation. |
