The promising potential of a RAD‐16 self‐assembly‐peptide hydrogel as a scaffold for tissue‐engineered cartilage was investigated. Within 3 weeks of in vitro culture, chondrocytes within the hydrogel produced a high amount of GAG and type‐II collagen, which are the components of cartilage‐specific extracellular matrix (ECM). With the culture time increased, toluidine‐blue staining for GAG and immuno‐histochemistry staining for type‐II collagen of the chondrocytes‐hydrogel composites became more intense. Analysis of the gene expression of the ECM molecules also confirmed the chondrocytes in the peptide hydrogel maintained their phenotype within 3 weeks of in vitro culture.
