Quality Assessment in 3D Cultures of Disc-Chondrocytes

Karin Benz and Jürgen Mollenhauer;

BioProcess International Vol.6 No.11

Optosensoric Online Monitoring of Oxygen and pH Kinetics

Autologous chondrocyte transplantation is a modern experimental therapy for treatment of degenerative intervertebral disc diseases. Several studies with animal models have shown that transplantation of cultivated autologous chondrocytes can delay progression of disc degeneration. A few products based on human autologous condrocytes are already on the market. Repair of disc damages with grafted chondrocytes appears feasible in the near future. So chances are growing for clinical applications meant for restoration of original disc functions. As a result, optimization and standardization of the individual steps of the laborious therapeutic approach gain even more importance.