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Polymeric mesh and insulin‐like growth factor 1 delivery enhance cell homing and graft−cartilage integration

Cartilage injury, such as full‐thickness lesions, predisposes patients to the premature development of osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease. While surgical management of cartilage lesions has improved, long‐term clinical efficacy has stagnated, owing to the lack of hyaline cartilage regeneration and inadequate graft−host integration. This study tests the hypothesis that integration of cartilage grafts with native cartilage can be improved by enhancing the migration of chondrocytes across the graft−host interface via the release of chemotactic factor from a degradable polymeric mesh. To this end, a polylactide‐co‐glycolide/poly‐ε‐caprolactone mesh was designed to localize the delivery of insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1), a well‐established chondrocyte attractant. The release of IGF‐1 (100 ng/mg) enhanced cell migration from cartilage explants, and the mesh served as critical structural support for cell adhesion, growth, and production of a cartilaginous matrix in vitro, which resulted in increased integration strength compared with mesh‐free repair. Further, this neocartilage matrix was structurally contiguous with native and grafted cartilage when tested in an osteochondral explant model in vivo. These results demonstrate that this combined approach of a cell homing factor and supportive matrix will promote cell‐mediated integrative cartilage repair and improve clinical outcomes of cartilage grafts in the treatment of osteoarthritis.