Cipriani, FilippoAriño Palao, BlancaGonzález de Torre, IsraelVega Castrillo, AurelioAguado Hernández, Héctor JoséAlonso Rodrigo, MatildeÁlvarez Barcia, Ángel JoséSánchez, AnaGarcía Diaz, VerónicaLópez Peña, MónicaRodríguez Cabello, José Carlos2021-02-162021-02-162019Regenerative Biomaterials, Volume 6, Issue 6, December 2019, Pages 335–347, https://doi.org/10.1093/rb/rbz0232056-3418http://hdl.handle.net/10347/24487The aim of this study was to evaluate injectable, in situ cross-linkable elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) for osteochondral repair. Both the ELR-based hydrogel alone and the ELR-based hydrogel embedded with rabbit mesenchymal stromal cells (rMSCs) were tested for the regeneration of critical subchondral defects in 10 New Zealand rabbits. Thus, cylindrical osteochondral defects were filled with an aqueous solution of ELRs and the animals sacrificed at 4 months for histological and gross evaluation of features of biomaterial performance, including integration, cellular infiltration, surrounding matrix quality and the new matrix in the defects. Although both approaches helped cartilage regeneration, the results suggest that the specific composition of the rMSC-containing hydrogel permitted adequate bone regeneration, whereas the ELR-based hydrogel alone led to an excellent regeneration of hyaline cartilage. In conclusion, the ELR cross-linker solution can be easily delivered and forms a stable well-integrated hydrogel that supports infiltration and de novo matrix synthesiseng© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedAtribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/BiopolymerAnimal testCartilageBonejournal article10.1093/rb/rbz0232056-3426open access