(277b) Enhancing Mass Transfer of Vitamin E to Inflamed Bovine Articular Chondrocytes through Perfusion

Articular cartilage is an avascular tissue with diffusion limited nutrient and oxygen transfer, making its ability to self-heal and regenerate limited. Osteoarthritis (OA) was traditionally defined solely as the degradation of cartilage and was not considered an inflammatory disease. However, the inflammation of the synovial membrane has been observed in a significant portion of OA patients. In addition, several recent studies have proved the presence of inflammatory markers, including interleukins, nitric oxides and macrophage inflammatory proteins, in serum and synovial fluid of OA joints. These findings transformed how researches define and develop treatments for OA.

Nutraceuticals are food components that have medicinal benefits in addition to their nutritional value. They can reduce inflammation by blocking the expression of iterluken-1, downregulating the overexpression of cell adhesion molecules and by their anti-oxidative characteristic, they scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals.

In this study, inflammation is induced in bovine articular chondrocytes (bAChs) by the addition of IL-1β. They are then cultured in micromass and bioreactor cultures and supplied with a nutraceutical (vitamin E) containing growth medium. A centrifugal bioreactor (CBR) is used to grow cartilage tissue under perfusion. We hypothesize that perfusion will enhance the mass transfer of nutraceuticals to the grown cartilage tissue, reflected by a significant decrease of nitric oxide content in the culture medium and the gene expression of inflammatory markers like TNF-α and NOS2 in comparison to micromass cultures.