Real-time quantitative PCR analysis of phenotype of osteochondral tissue chip

In this study, we aimed to develop microphysiological osteochondral (OC) tissue chips derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to model the pathologies of OA. We first induced iPSCs into mesenchymal progenitor cells (iMPCs) and optimized the chondro- and osteo-inductive conditions for iMPCs. Then iMPCs were encapsulated into photocrosslinked gelatin scaffolds and cultured within a dual-flow bioreactor, in which the top stream was chondrogenic medium and the bottom stream was osteogenic medium. After 28 days of differentiation, biphasic OC tissue and monophasic chondral (CH) tissue chips were successfully generated and phenotypes were confirmed by real time RT-PCR. The OC tissues were cut into Top and Bottom (Bot), and both parts were compared with each other. CH tissue were compared with their phenotype on Day 0. Total RNA was extracted from the samples and processed for qPCR according to the manufacturer's instructions. qPCR gene expression profiling: OC and CH tissue chip were generated and compared as indicated in summary. Total RNA from each sample was used for gene expression analysis and normalized to RPL13A.