We present a modeling framework for the dynamics of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and chondrocytes evolving in a nonwoven polyethylene terephtalate (PET) scaffold supplied with a differentiation medium. The differentiation of hMSCs into chondrocytes favors the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) and is influenced by fluid stress. The model takes deformations of ECM and PET scaffold into account. The scaffold structure is explicitly included by statistical assessment of the fibre distribution from CT images. The effective macroscopic equations are obtained by appropriate upscaling from the dynamics on lower (microscopic and mesoscopic) scales.
In a simplified setting of the cell and tissue cross-diffusion dynamics we also address the global existence of solutions.