Tissue engineered cartilage: Utilization of autologous serum and serum-free media for chondrocyte culture § S.H. Kamil a, * , K. Kojima b , M.P. Vacanti c , V. Zaporojan b , C.A. Vacanti b , R.D. Eavey d,e a The Department of Otolaryngology, University of Massachusetts, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, United States b The Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, United States c The Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, United States d The Pediatric Otolaryngology Service, The Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, United States e The Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, United States Received 6 April 2006; received in revised form 25 August 2006; accepted 1 September 2006 International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology (2007) 71, 71—75 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijporl KEYWORDS Tissue engineering; Autologous serum; Serum free media; Chondrocytes culture Summary Background: Standard culture medium contains bovine serum. If standard culture methodology is used for future human tissue-engineering, unknown risks of infection from bovine disease or immune reaction to foreign proteins theoretically might occur. In this study we wished to evaluate the potential of chondrocyte expansion using autologous and serum free media. Methods: Autologous auricular cartilage was harvested in a swine model. An initial concentration of 100 Â 10 3 cells per group were expanded in three groups. Group A, F- 12 with 10% fetal calf serum; Group B, F-12 supplemented with 10% autologous serum; Group C, F-12 supplemented with growth factors. Cell numbers were counted at days 3, 6, 9 and 12. Results: The cells in all the three groups exhibited normal chondrocyte morphology. At early time points there was a statistically significant difference in the number of cells between Group A and the two other groups ( p < 0.05). By day 12, both Groups A and C demonstrated greater cell number as compared to Group B ( p < 0.05). § Presented at Tissue Engineering Society International Meeting, Lausanne, Switzerland, October 2004. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 508 856 4161; fax: +1 508 856 6703. E-mail address: kamils@ummhc.org (S.H. Kamil). 0165-5876/$ — see front matter # 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2006.09.002