Utilizing two-photon fluorescence and second harmonic generation microscopy to study human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell morphogenesis in chitosan scaffold

A major goal of tissue engineering is to cultivate the cartilage in vitro. One approach is to implant the human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into the three dimensional biocompatible and biodegradable material. Through the action of the chondrogenic factor TGF-beta 3, the stem cells can be induced to secrete collagen. In this study, mesenchymal stem cells are implanted on the chitosan scaffold and TGF-beta 3 was added to produce the cartilage tissue and TP autofluorescence and SHG microscopy was used to image the process of chondrogenesis. With additional development, multiphoton microscopy can be developed into an effective tool for evaluating the quality of tissue engineering products.