Multiple choice: leveraging instructive culture models to improve cartilage tissue engineering

In the recent years, multipotent cells, like mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), gained considerable interest in cell based cartilage tissue engineering strategies. MSCs abilities to differentiate into chondrocytes as well as to act as trophic mediators makes them a promising cell source for the use in cartilage repair. In general, this thesis addresses three major aspects for the use of MSCs in cartilage tissue engineering: I) the role of low oxygen tension to improve MSC performance during cellular expansion II) the role of low oxygen tension to alter chondrogenic differentiation quantity and quality and III) revealing MSCs role in co-culture approaches with human chondrocytes.