6533b857fe1ef96bd12b3902

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Cartilage Regeneration and Tissue Engineering

subject

description

Abstract Articular cartilage in synovial joints is a hyaline cartilage highly hydrated with a rigorous order of cells and fibers and a specific content of proteoglycans and glycoproteins. It provides a low-friction surface, participates in the lubrication of the synovial joints, and distributes the forces to the underlying bone. It is an avascular and aneural tissue where small metabolites diffuse to and from cells. Unlike hyaline cartilage in other locations, articular cartilage lacks perichondrium, a layer of fibrous tissue around it that serves as the source of new cartilage cells. Thus, although extracellular matrix undergoes continuous remodeling throughout life, the ability to repair is limited, and often, degeneration in weight-bearing joints occurs by age or due to injuries, causing a reduction in mobility and increasing pain with joint movement, in a clinical profile called osteoarthritis, eventually progressing to long-term disability. Several medical and orthopedic treatments have been developed, but their long-term results are not usually satisfactory. New approaches point to tissue engineering techniques, where the combination of scaffolds made of biomaterials as artificial extracellular matrix, along with autologous or allogeneic cells and growth factors are used. Multiple scaffolds have been tested for articular cartilage regeneration, with different composition of biomaterial, conformations, and mechanical properties. With respect to the cellular source, autologous chondrocytes have been used, after an in vitro expansion, as well as mesenchymal stem cells from different origins (such as synovial membrane, bone marrow or adipose tissue), along with factors that induce the growth and cellular differentiation toward chondrogenic cells. We present our research in this field and summarize the advances obtained in the regeneration of articular cartilage.