Human Chondrocyte Alginate Bead Culture: Healthy Donor, Osteoarthritis (OA+) or Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA+)

Tissue Procurement: Human cartilage tissue is collected from cadaveric donors within 48 hours of death or as surgical specimens from a relevant procedure. The tissue is harvested from the knee joint from both clinically “healthy, normal” donors and from those diagnosed with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Proper consent and serological information is obtained on all specimens.

Alginate Bead Processing: Primary chondrocytes are combined with alginate gel and added drop-wise into a calcium salt bath to initiate polymerization. Alginate beads are recovered and distributed into multi-well plates or into the desired format with media supplemented with 10% FBS. Alginate bead cultures are shipped with ice packs for overnight delivery.

Quality Control: Tested negative for fungal and bacterial contamination.