INTRODUCTION The poor intrinsic healing capacity of articular cartilage and the limited number of cells available for transplantation have engendered much interest in the development of an alternative source of chondrocytes for tissue engineering applications. One such cell population is multipotential mesenchymal cells (MMCs), which are readily obtained from bone marrow and may be induced to d...

Appropriate selection of scaffold architecture is a key challenge in cartilage tissue engineering. Gap junction-mediated intercellular contacts play important roles in precartilage condensation of mesenchymal cells. However, scaffold architecture could potentially restrict cell-cell communication and differentiation. This is particularly important when choosing the appropriate culture platform ...

Achondroplasia (ACH) is one of the most common skeletal dysplasias with short stature caused by gain-of-function mutations in FGFR3 encoding the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3. We used the drug repositioning strategy to identify an FDA-approved drug that suppresses abnormally activated FGFR3 signaling in ACH. We found that meclozine, an anti-histamine drug that has long been used for motio...

The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence and biological function of microRNA-92a (miR-92a) in chondrogenesis and cartilage degeneration. Human adipose‑derived mesenchymal stem cells (hADSCs) in micromass and chondrocyte‑like ATDC5 cells were induced to chondrogenesis, and primary human/mouse chondrocytes (PHCs/PMCs) and chondrogenic ATDC5 cells were stimulated with interleuk...

The embryotoxic potential of the commonly used fungicide, methyl 2-benzimidazolecarbamate (MBC) was evaluated in rat and hamster embryo limb bud (LB) and midbrain (CNS) cell micromass cultures. Cultures were exposed to seven concentrations of 0.03, 0.12, 0.49, 1.95, 7.81, 31.25 and 125 μg MBC/ml. Developmental toxicity was assessed via the following parameters: cytotoxicity, by quantifying neut...