Evaluation of histological healing of the articular cartilage defects with application of decellularised human placenta scaffold, mesenchymal stem cells and PRP combinations - rat model-

The articular cartilage is of a hyaline cartilage structure and the healing capacity is very poor when it is damaged. Although an optimal treatment method has not been defined, tissue engineering studies are promising in the treatment of cartilage defects. For this purpose, it has been hypothesized that the decellularized human placenta may be an effective scaffold in repairing of cartilage defects. Its effect could be increased by the addition of mesenchymal stem cells and PRP. Our study was designed as rat model after approval of the ethics committee. The subjects were divided into 5 groups of 7 animals in each group. In all groups, 2 mm diameter osteochondral defect was formed in trochlea regions of their knee, bilaterally. No additional procedure was performed in Control (K) group. Only the decellularized human placenta scaffold was applied to the P group, together with the placental scaffold 10⁶ mesenchymal stem cells was applied to the PK group, together with the placental scaffold PRP was applied to the PP group and together with the placental scaffold, 10⁶ mesenchymal stem cells and PRP was applied to the PKP group. Rats were histologically evaluated with International Cartilage Repair Score-2 after they were euthanized following 12 weeks of follow-up. After the statistical analysis of the data, the scores of all experimental groups were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.05). The scores of the PKP group were the highest among the experimental groups but not statistically significant (p> 0.05). According to our results, the decellularized human placenta is an effective scaffold in the healing of cartilage defects. The efficacy of the placental scaffold can be increased by the addition of mesenchymal stem cells and PRP. The maximal effect can be observed with addition of mesenchymal stem cells and PRP together in combination with placental scaffold.