Background and Objectives Ear cartilage malformations are commonly encountered problems in reconstructive surgery, since cartilage has low self-regenerating capacity. Malformations that impose psychological and social burden on one's life are currently treated using ear prosthesis, synthetic implants or autologous flaps from rib cartilage. These approaches are challenging because not only they request high surgical expertise, but also they lack flexibility and induce severe donor-site morbidity. Through the last decade, tissue engineering gained attention where it aims at regenerating human tissues or organs in order to restore normal functions. This technique consists of three main elements, cells, growth factors, and above all, a scaffold that supports cells and guides their behavior. Several studies have investigated different scaffolds prepared from both synthetic or natural materials and their effects on cellular differentiation and behavior. Methods and Results In this study, we investigated a natural scaffold (alginate) as tridimensional hydrogel seeded with progenitors from different origins such as bone marrow, perichondrium and dental pulp. In contact with the scaffold, these cells remained viable and were able to differentiate into chondrocytes when cultured in vitro. Quantitative and qualitative results show the presence of different chondrogenic markers as well as elastic ones for the purpose of ear cartilage, upon different culture conditions. Conclusions We confirmed that auricular perichondrial cells outperform other cells to produce chondrogenic tissue in normal oxygen levels and we report for the first time the effect of hypoxia on these cells. Our results provide updates for cartilage engineering for future clinical applications.

中文翻译：

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缺氧对不同来源的祖细胞的软骨分化有不同的影响。

背景和目的耳软骨畸形是重建手术中常见的问题，因为软骨的自我再生能力较低。目前，对给人们的生活带来心理和社会负担的畸形的治疗是使用假耳、合成植入物或肋软骨自体皮瓣。这些方法具有挑战性，因为它们不仅需要较高的手术专业知识，而且缺乏灵活性并导致严重的供体部位发病率。在过去的十年中，组织工程因其旨在再生人体组织或器官以恢复正常功能而受到关注。该技术由三个主要元素组成：细胞、生长因子，最重要的是支撑细胞并指导其行为的支架。几项研究调查了由合成或天然材料制备的不同支架及其对细胞分化和行为的影响。方法和结果在这项研究中，我们研究了一种天然支架（藻酸盐）作为三维水凝胶，其中接种了来自不同来源（例如骨髓、软骨膜和牙髓）的祖细胞。在与支架接触时，这些细胞仍然存活，并且在体外培养时能够分化成软骨细胞。定量和定性结果表明，在不同的培养条件下，存在不同的软骨形成标记物以及用于耳软骨的弹性标记物。结论 我们证实，在正常氧水平下，耳廓软骨膜细胞比其他细胞更能产生软骨组织，并且我们首次报告了缺氧对这些细胞的影响。我们的结果为未来的临床应用提供了软骨工程的更新。