Chondrocytes

Chondrocytes are the only cells found in articular cartilage. Since there are no vascular, nervous and lymphatic systems in articular cartilage, chondrocytes can survive in an anaerobic environment and get nutrients from the synovial fluid through diffusion. The chondrocytes provide mechanical support as a key functional component and permit smooth pain-free articulation in cartilage. Protein and gene expression, metabolic activity, and surface markers are common features of chondrocytes, and differences can be observed along the depth of cartilage tissue. Chondrocytes exhibit distinctive features, such as having metabolic activity to maintain the turnover of extracellular matrix (ECM) by synthesizing glycoprotein, collagens, proteoglycans, and hyaluronan.

Chondrocytes have been used as an in vitro model system in multiple studies to explore cellular mechanisms, such as inflammation-related signaling cascades, abnormal protease production, chondrocyte apoptosis and differentiation, as well as novel potential treatments for arthritic disease.

In Creative Bioarray, normal primary chondrocytes from human and animal tissues are low passage and high purity. We also isolate chondrocytes from joints suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. In addition, optimized chondrocyte growth media are also available.