Primary Human Chondrocytes from Cartilage Procurement to Isolation and Quality Control.

Authors

Yifan Li, Linken Li, Kailong Gen, Donglin Fu, Jianghong He, Li Li

Published in

Tissue engineering. Part B, Reviews. Pages 19373368261506831. Nov 13, 2026. Epub Nov 13, 2026.

Abstract

Primary human articular chondrocytes remain an essential cell source for cartilage biology, osteoarthritis research, drug evaluation, and cartilage tissue engineering. However, their experimental reliability depends not only on enzymatic isolation but also on the entire workflow from tissue procurement to early culture and quality control. Human cartilage specimens differ substantially in clinical source, joint origin, disease status, anatomical region, donor background, transport condition, and processing delay. These preanalytical variables can influence cell yield, viability, phenotype, transcriptomic preservation, and matrix-forming capacity. In addition, isolation strategies based on collagenase digestion, sequential protease treatment, digestion duration, enzyme concentration, filtration, and washing may affect both cell recovery and the preservation of chondrocyte identity. P0 chondrocytes are closer to the native tissue-derived state than expanded cells, but they are already shaped by monolayer culture, serum exposure, oxygen tension, seeding density, and culture duration. Therefore, P0 culture should be evaluated through application-specific quality control rather than by cell yield alone. This review summarizes current evidence on human articular cartilage procurement, tissue handling, enzymatic isolation, P0 culture establishment, and phenotype validation. It proposes a practical framework that integrates basic recovery control, identity control, and functional control for different downstream applications, including osteoarthritis mechanism studies, drug screening, omics analysis, and regenerative medicine. Standardized reporting of tissue source, isolation conditions, early culture parameters, and quality-control endpoints will improve reproducibility and translational relevance in primary human chondrocyte research.Impact StatementThis review highlights how the reliability of primary human chondrocyte studies is shaped before cells reach culture. By integrating tissue source, transport, cartilage preparation, enzymatic isolation, P0 culture, and quality-control endpoints, it provides a practical framework for improving reproducibility in osteoarthritis research, drug testing, omics analysis, and cartilage tissue engineering. The review may help investigators select appropriate cartilage specimens, report preanalytical variables, and match chondrocyte quality-control strategies to downstream translational applications.

PMID:
43031399
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 14 Nov 2026.

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