Collagen II and decellularized hyaline cartilage scaffolds derived from bovine trachea differentially promote chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and decrease secretion of angiogenic factors.

Collagen II scaffolds and decellularized cartilage are used for tissue engineering; however, there are no studies that compare their properties. To this aim, this study produced and characterized collagen II and decellularized cartilage scaffolds made from bovine trachea and evaluated the influence of the culture medium on the tissue type synthesized by human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC) and human adipose mesenchymal stem cells (hASC) cultured on the scaffolds. Three angiogenic factors secreted by these cell cultures were also quantified. Decellularized hyaline cartilage had lower concentrations of collagen II and higher concentrations of GAG than collagen II scaffolds. The porosity, pore size, and fluid sorption capacity of the collagen scaffolds were greater than those of decellularized hyaline cartilage. Both scaffolds were hydrophilic, and their surfaces were negatively charged. The enzymatic degradation and Young's and compression moduli of decellularized cartilage were higher than those of collagen II scaffolds. hBMSC and hASC cultured on collagen II and decellularized cartilage scaffolds with chondrogenic differentiation medium synthesized different percentages of the tissue types that made up the extracellular matrix. hBMSC on decellularized hyaline cartilage produced mainly hyaline cartilage-like tissue, whereas hASC had more immature transitional tissue. When cells were seeded onto collagen II scaffolds, transitional and fibrous tissue prevailed over hyaline tissue. Our data demonstrated that stem cell chondrogenesis in vitro was more favored by decellularized hyaline cartilage than by collagen II scaffolds, and that the concentration of angiopoietin-1, VEGF and bFGF decreased with increasing hyaline tissue formation.