Open Access

ARTICLE

Ex vivo cartilage explant model for the evaluation of chondrocyte-targeted exosomes

KAN OUYANG^1,2,#, MEIQUAN XU^3,#, YUJIE LIANG⁴, XIAO XU², LIMEI XU², CAINING WEN^1,2, ZHUAN QIN², YIXIN XIE², HUAWEI ZHANG⁵, LI DUAN^2,*, DAPING WANG^1,2,5,*

1 Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510095, China
2 Department of Sports Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Orthopedic Technology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, 518035, China
3 Deparment of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, 518035, China
4 Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Psychological Healthcare, Shenzhen Institute of Mental Health, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen Mental Health Center, Shenzhen, 518020, China
5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China

* Address correspondence to: Li Duan, ; Daping Wang,
# These authors contributed equally to this work

BIOCELL 2022, 46(6), 1521-1526. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.018788

Received 18 August 2021; Accepted 26 September 2021; Issue published 07 February 2022

Abstract

There is no efficient tracking system available for the therapeutic molecules delivered to cartilage. The dense matrix covering the cartilage surface is the main biological barrier that the therapeutic molecules must overcome. In this study, we aimed to establish a system that can dynamically and effectively track the therapeutic molecules delivered to cartilage. To this aim, we adopted bovine and human cartilage explants as ex vivo models for chondrocyte-targeted exosome dispersion. The efficiency of drug delivery was evaluated using frozen sections. The results of this study showed that the penetration and distribution of chondrocyte-targeted exosomes in cartilage explants can be tracked dynamically. Thus, ex vivo cartilage explants provide an effective and economic system to evaluate therapeutic drugs encapsulated in chondrocyte-targeted exosomes in preclinical studies.

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Keywords

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