Abstract
Repair of disorders of the temporomandibular joint relies on the development of suitably shaped tissue in a biocompatible scaffold. This paper describes the tissue engineering of a human-shaped mandibular condyle from rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) using a scaffold of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate hydrogel. Rat MSCs were isolated and cultured in vitro in either osteogenic medium (containing dexamethasone, ascorbate and beta-glycerophosphate) or chondrogenic medium (with transforming growth factor b) to induce differentiation. Cells were passaged, encapsulated in the hydrogel scaffold and loaded in two stratified layers into a human mandibular condyle-shaped polyurethane mould. These were implanted into subcutaneous dorsal pockets of immunodeficient mice and harvested after eight weeks. Histological analysis showed that tissue-engineered mandibular condyles formed de novo, retaining the two stratified layers. This demonstrated histogenesis of cartilaginous and osseous phenotypes. Further refinement of this method is required before it becomes available for clinical use.