Increasing the Dose of Autologous Chondrocytes Improves Articular Cartilage Repair: Histological and Molecular Study in the Sheep Animal Model

Guillén-García P, Rodríguez-Iñigo E, Guillén-Vicente I, et al. · Cartilage

Higher cell dose produced more hyaline-like repair tissue with higher type II collagen and aggrecan expression and less variability — the preclinical rationale for the CEMTRO high-density approach. Does not establish human efficacy.

Population

15 sheep with created cartilage defects

Intervention

Chondrocyte implantation at 5 million cells (high density)

Comparator

1 million cells, and mesenchymal cell treatments

Limitations

Small animal study by the same group that commercializes the technique; histological/molecular endpoints, not function.