Macromolecular Crowding Effect on Cartilaginous Matrix Production: A Comparison of Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Models

Macromolecular crowding (MMC) has been shown to have a beneficial effect on production and maturation of extracellular matrices in a monolayer cell culture model. To explore its potential in tissue engineering, a mixture of Ficoll 70 and Ficoll 400 is used to examine its MMC effect on cartilaginous matrix production of monolayer cultured porcine chondrocytes as well as on in vitro engineered cartilage formation using porcine chondrocytes and polyglycolic acid-unwoven fibers. The results showed that the production of total collagens and glycos-aminoglycans production was enhanced by MMC in monolayer cultured cells (two-dimensional model), but the matrix production and tissue formation were significantly inhibited in the in vitro engineered cartilage (three-dimensional model) by the macromolecules. Further mechanism study on this phenomenon will be important for MMC applications in regenerative medicine.