The successful transplantation of healthy articular cartilage that can withstand the normal physiologic demands of an arthroplasty surface to restore function to a joint whose articular cartilage has been destroyed, is an appealing alternative to other available methods of joint reconstruction. The ultimate success of articular cartilage transplantation depends on several critical factors such as chondrocyte viability, maintenance of a normal collagen and proteoglycan matrix and mechanical stability of the graft. Also, the transplanted cartilage despite its relative immunologic privileged status, must resist the immunogenic forces in the host. Finally, because of the limited supply of autograft material the establishment of methods for long term preservation of viable and mechanically intact cartilage is most important to realize the full use of potential donors. The purpose of this work is to develop optimal conditions for storage of viable articular cartilage capable of performing adequate function when transplanted to heterologous recipients. Extensive morphological, biosynthetic and biomechanic studies will be performed of the stored cartilage before and after allotransplantation. These studies will permit identification of possible mechanisms of allograft failure and will suggest rational approaches to improve the success of articular cartilage allotransplants. Furthermore, humoral and cell-mediated immunologic responses to the transplanted cartilage will be studied to determine the role of immunologic rejection in allograft failure.
