Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tissue and Cell journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tice Allogeneic platelet rich plasma serves as a scafold for articular cartilage derived chondroprogenitors Elizabeth Vinod a,d , Deepak Vinod Francis b , Soosai Manickam Amirtham a , Solomon Sathishkumar a , P.R.J.V.C Boopalan c,d, ⁎ a Department of Physiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India – 632002 b Department of Anatomy, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India – 632002 c Department of Orthopaedics, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India – 632004 d Centre for Stem Cell Research, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India – 632002 ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Chondroprogenitors Platelet rich plasma Scafold Diferentiation ABSTRACT Limited self-restorative ability of the cartilage has necessitated the use of cell and tissue engineering based therapies. Recent advances in the isolation, expansion and characterization of articular cartilage derived chondroprogenitors(CPs) has gained popularity in its role for cartilage repair. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a reliablebiologicalscafold forin-vitroandin-vivostudieswithreportedtherapeuticapplicationsincartilageand bone pathologies. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether human allogeneic PRP could serve as a bio- logical scafold forchondroprogenitors(CPs)incartilagerepair.CPswereisolatedfromthesuperfciallayerof threeosteoarthritickneejointsbyfbronectinadhesionassayandcharacterizedusing fowcytometricanalysis. AllogeneiccitratedbloodwasharvestedfromthreesubjectstoobtainPRP.CPsataconcentrationofonemillion cellspermlweregelledwithPRPusingcalciumchloride.ThePRP-CPscafoldsweresubjected foradipogeneic, osteogenic,chondrogeneicdiferentiationandprocessed forpostdiferentiation-stainingstudies(OilRedO,Von Kossa, Alcian blue staining), immunofuorescence (collagen II) and live dead assays (Calcein AM-Ethidium Homodimer). We show that PRP was able to sustain CP cell viability and diferentiate towards adipogenic, osteogenicandchondrogeniclineageunderappropriatecultureconditions.Wealsonotedpositiveextracellular matrixproductioninPRP-CPscafoldsculturedwithoutchondrogenicsupplementation.Ourresultssuggestthat PRP could be a promising bio-active scafold due to its synergistic efect in supporting cell proliferation, maintainingcellviabilityandfavoringextracellularmatrixproduction.PRPcanbeusedasbiologicalscafold for the delivery of CPs in cartilage healing. 1. Introduction Anatomicalcomplexityofthehyalinearticularcartilagecontributes to its specialized viscoelastic properties and vitality in daily weight bearing functions. Inherent properties of the hyaline cartilage namely lack of blood vessels and limited availability of chondrocytes renders anyformofcartilageinjuryirreversiblebyitsnaturalcourseleadingto the formation of fbrocartilage with inferior biomechanical function (Fox et al., 2009). Arguably, cell-based therapies have become the treatmentofchoiceforcartilagerepairpreferablyusingbiocompatible delivery systems. Current strategy using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has shown potential capabilities in cartilage regeneration but with variable results (Xie et al., 2014; Marmotti et al., 2015; Freitag etal.,2016; Pintatetal.,2017). Due to their inherent properties and chondrogenic potential, carti- lage-derived chondroprogenitors (CPs) have been considered as an al- ternative for cell therapy in cartilage repair (Bhatia and Hare, 2005; Ghannametal.,2010; Sabarishetal.,2015).Thecharacteristicfeatures of these multipotential progenitors include plastic adherence, self-re- newal, diferential adhesion to fbronectin with high colony forming efciency and replicative potential expressing classical MSC markers and demonstrating trilineage diferentiation under appropriate cell culture conditions (Williams et al., 2010). Cells incorporated in three-dimensional scafolds (natural and syn- thetic) have been used to regenerate cartilage similar in structure and function to native cartilage (Vunjak-Novakovic et al., 1999; Leeetal., 2000; LiandZhang,2005; Zwingmann et al., 2007; Jungetal.,2008; Ingavle et al., 2012; Jiang et al., 2013; Yin et al., 2014). Platelet rich https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tice.2018.12.006 Received 8 June 2018; Received in revised form 29 December 2018; Accepted 30 December 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: jpboopy@gmail.com (P.R.J.V.C. Boopalan). Tissue and Cell 56 (2019) 107–113 Available online 02 January 2019 0040-8166/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T