Objective (s): The scarcity of articular cartilage defect to repair due to absence of blood vessels and tissue engineering is one of the promising approaches for cartilage regeneration. The objective of this study was to prepare an extracellular matrix derived decellularized bovine articular cartilage scaffold and investigate its interactions with seeded rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs). Materials and Methods: Bovine articular cartilage that was cut into pieces with 2 mm thickness, were decellularized by combination of physical and chemical methods including snap freeze‐thaw and treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The scaffolds were then seeded with 1, 1’‐dioctadecyl‐3, 3, 3’, 3’‐tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) labeled BM‐MSCs and cultured for up to two weeks. Results: Histological studies of decellularized bovine articular cartilage showed that using 5 cycles of snap freeze‐thaw in liquid nitrogen and treatment with 2.5% SDS for 4 hr led to the best decellularization, while preserving the articular cartilage structure. Adherence and penetration of seeded BM‐MSCs on to the scaffold were displayed by histological and florescence examinations and also confirmed by electron microscopy. Conclusion: ECM‐derived decellularized articular cartilage scaffold provides a suitable environment to support adhesion and maintenance of cultured BM‐MSCs and could be applied to investigate cellular behaviors in this system and may also be useful for studies of cartilage tissue engineering.

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