A Biomimetic Joint Model With Heterogenous Oxygen Environments

A biomimetic joint model, which captures physiological interactions between cartilage and bone tissues, is important to model joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis (OA). However, it has been difficult to implement heterogenous O2 environments found in cartilage and bone tissues in vitro. Here, we established a novel microfluidic chondrocytes and osteoblasts co-culture model containing micropatterned O2 scavenging hydrogels to mimic the heterogeneous O2 environments found at the joint tissue interface. Cocultures of chondrocytes and osteoblasts under heterogenous oxygen levels exhibited more mature cartilage phenotypes compared to monocultures and co-cultures without oxygen control. The platform can potentially be utilized for OA drug screening applications.