The Response of Tissue Engineered Cartilage to the Temporal Application of Transforming and Insulin-Like Growth Factors

Agarose has been used as an experimental scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering research due to its biocompatibility with chondrocytes, support of cartilage tissue development, and ability to transmit mechanical stimuli [1–3]. Tissue engineering studies have demonstrated that the temporal application of transforming growth factor (TGF) β3 for only 2 weeks elicits rapid tissue development that results in mechanical properties approaching native values [4]. However, it is not known whether this response to a 2-week exposure to growth factors is unique to TGF-β3. Therefore, the present study characterizes the response of tissue engineered cartilage to the temporal application of the anabolic growth factors TGF-β1, TGF-β3, and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I).