Objective To explore ultrastructure of alginate scaffolds, morphological changes of cartilage and the relation with tissue engineering repairing adjuvant arthritis in order to provide certain experimental basis for the clinical application of tissue engineering. Methods We divided the rabbits into three groups: control group (n=8), arthritis model group (n=8), cartilage cells-scaffold complex treatment group (n=8). We injected 0.5mL adjuvant into the rabbits’ knee of model group and treatment group to induce arthritis, and 0.5mL physiological saline into control group. We extracted 5mL of bone marrow of treatment group, and separated the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. We cultivated the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in vitro and induced them to be cartilage cells and then mixed cartilage cells with scaffolds. We observed the growth of cartilage cells within the scaffolds by electron microscopy, and then reinjected the mixture in articular cavities of treatment group for one month. Meanwhile, we injected physiological saline into articular cavities of control group and model group. We got the histological grading by evaluating chondral repair results of rabbits. Results Alginate scaffolds had many pores in electron microscopy and these pores were conducive to nutrient movement and cell proliferation. After treatment for one month, cartilage fibrosis alleviated and articular cavity effusion disappeared, which meant cartilage defects were repaired to some extent. Conclusions We can repair cartilage defects of adjuvant-induced arthritis rabbits by injecting the mixture of engineered chondrocytes and alginate scaffolds, and its mechanism may be that scaffolds avail the growth of chondrocytes.