Use of fibroblast growth factor 2 for expansion of chondrocytes and tissue engineering

A method of generating tissue comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing differentiated cells in a cell culture medium comprising fibroblast growth factor 2 in an amount sufficient to de-differentiate the differentiated cells;
• (ii) de-differentiating the differentiated cells and expanding the de-differentiated cells;
• (iii) harvesting the expanded cells;
• and
• (iv) generating a tissue in vivo or ex vivo using the harvested cells, wherein the differentiated cells are mammalian chondrocyte cells.

A method of generating tissue comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing differentiated cells in a cell culture medium comprising fibroblast growth factor 2 in an amount sufficient to de-differentiate the differentiated cells;
• (ii) de-differentiating the differentiated cells and expanding the de-differentiated cells;
• (iii) harvesting the expanded cells;
• and
• (iv) generating a tissue in vivo or ex vivo using the harvested cells, wherein the differentiated cells are human chondrocyte cells.

A method of generating tissue comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing differentiated cells in a cell culture medium comprising fibroblast growth factor 2 in an amount sufficient to de-differentiate the differentiated cells;
• (ii) de-differentiating the differentiated cells and expanding the de-differentiated cells;
• (iii) harvesting the expanded cells;
• and
• (iv) generating a tissue in vivo or ex vivo using the harvested cells, wherein the differentiated cells are bovine chondrocyte cells.

A method of generating cartilaginous tissue comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing chondrocyte cells in a cell culture medium comprising fibroblast growth factor 2 in an amount sufficient to de-differentiate the chondrocyte cells;
• (ii) de-differentiating the chondrocyte cells and expanding the de-differentiated cells;
• (iii) harvesting the expanded cells;
• and
• (iv) generating a cartilaginous tissue in vivo or ex vivo using the harvested cells.

A method of generating cartilaginous tissue comprising the steps of:

• (i) providing chondrocyte cells in a monolayer in a cell culture medium comprising fibroblast growth factor 2 in an amount sufficient to de-differentiate the chondrocyte cells;
• (ii) de-differentiating the chondrocyte cells and expanding the de-differentiated cells;
• (iii) harvesting the expanded cells;
• and
• (iv) generating a tissue in vivo or ex vivo using the harvested cells.