Structure assessment of regenerated cartilage using NMR spectroscopy

Recently, many kinds of methodology to regenerate articular cartilage have been developed. It is important to assess whether reconstructed cartilaginous tissue have appropriate molecular-structure for articular cartilage. There are numerous studies about biochemical and biomechanical properties of reconstructed cartilaginous tissue. However the noninvasive or nondestructive assessment of molecular-structure have not been performed on regenerated cartilage. In this study, we established the methodology of nondestructive molecular-structure assessment of regenerated cartilage using NMR spectroscopy, and performed the assessment on regenerated cartilaginous tissue prepared by chondrocyte-agarose culture model. As the results, the 1 H-NMR spectrum of the regenerated cartilaginous tissue showed peaks dominated similarly to chondroitin sulfate solution. In conclusion, this methodology using NMR spectroscopy could be useful for the assessment of regenerated cartilage.