Patent ID: 8470522
Filing Date: 2013-06-25
Classification: A61K,C12N,G01N

Abstract:
1. An in vitro three-dimensional culture containing a demethylating agent induced-terminally differentiated human articular chondrocyte for screening a candidate drug for suppressing terminal differentiation of articular chondrocytes, the culture being prepared by a process comprising the steps of: (a) admixing normal human articular chondrocytes with an alginate solution to form a cell suspension; (b) dropping the cell suspension into a calcium chloride solution to result in the formation of alginate beads which have the normal human articular chondrocytes entrapped therein; (c) cultivating the alginate beads in a medium allowing the growth of the entrapped normal human articular chondrocytes; and (d) treating the cultivated alginate beads with a demethylating agent to form the in vitro three-dimensional culture containing terminally differentiated human articular chondrocytes, wherein the demethylating agent is selected from the group consisting of 5-azacytidine, 5′-fluoro-2′-deoxycytidine, dihydro-5-azacytidine, 5-aza-deoxycytidine, arabinofuranosyl-5-azacytosine (fazarabine) and pseudoisocytidine.