Background and purpose: Articular cartilage disease is prevalent in all societies and in most cases the damaged cartilage would not repair. Conservative treatments are associated with many problems. So cell therapy is needed as a definite treatment. One of the best and most accessible sources of cells for this purpose is stem cells derived from adipose tissue which can be differentiated into chondrocytes by tissue engineering techniques. Cell culture method has a key role in chondrogenic differentiation. In this study, two different culture methods (monolayer and micromass) were compared.

Materials and methods: In this descriptive study, stem cells were isolated from subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) were cultured by micromass and monolayer culture methods in chondrogenic differentiation medium for 14 days. The morphology of cells was observed using an inverted microscope. Chondrogenic differentiation was evaluated by histology and immunocytochemistry methods.

Results: The results revealed that micromass culture system increased the protein synthesis of collagen II and deposition of glycosaminoglycan in extracellular matrix.

Conclusion: This study suggests that the micromass culture system is a suitable condition for chondrogenic differentiation compared to monolayer cell culture.