Introduction. The regeneration capacity of cartilage in general is very limited. Cartilage does not contain blood vessels and is thought to consist of only one cell type (chondrocytes) lacking progenitor cells. The chondrocytes, laying isolated in a dense extracellular matrix, have very limited proliferation potential. Despite the absence of repair or regeneration of damaged articular cartilage...

BACKGROUND The regeneration of articular hyaline cartilage remains an elusive goal despite years of research. Recently, an aragonite-hyaluronate (Ar-HA) biphasic scaffold has been described capable of cartilage regeneration over a 6-month follow-up period. This study was conducted in order to assess the fate of the regenerated osteochondral tissue in a 12-month-long validated caprine model. H...

Hyaline articular cartilage, the load-bearing tissue of the joint, has very limited repair and regeneration capacities. The lack of efficient treatment modalities for large chondral defects has motivated attempts to engineer cartilage constructs in vitro by combining cells, scaffold materials and environmental factors, including growth factors, signaling molecules, and physical influences. Desp...

OBJECTIVE To explore possible differences in muscle-derived stem cell (MDSC) chondrogenic differentiation in vitro and articular cartilage regeneration in vivo between murine male MDSCs (M-MDSCs) and female MDSCs (F-MDSCs). METHODS Three different populations of M- and F-MDSCs (n = 3 of each sex) obtained via preplate technique, which separates cells based on their variable adhesion character...

OBJECTIVES Mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to differentiate into various cell types, and thus have emerged as promising alternatives to chondrocytes in cell-based cartilage repair methods. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the effect of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells combined with platelet rich fibrin on osteochondral defect repair and articular cartilage...

Osteoarthritis leads to the progressive decay of articular cartilage. Due its intrinsic avascular character, cartilage shows an inadequate capacity for regeneration. Cartilage loss may result in chronic pain, movement disorder and morbidity, which lack effective treatments except joint replacement late-stage osteoarthritis. To overcome this challenge, tissue engineering has emerged as a promisi...

BACKGROUND Although the clinical results of autologous chondrocyte implantation for articular cartilage defects have recently improved as a result of advanced techniques based on tissue engineering procedures, problems with cell handling and scaffold imperfections remain to be solved. A new cell-sheet technique has been developed, and is potentially able to overcome these obstacles. Chondrocyte...

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of 2 different protocols of intra-articular hyaluronic acid (HA, hylan G-F20) to articular cartilage regeneration in acute full-thickness chondral defects. MATERIALS AND METHODS Full-thickness chondral defects of 3 x 6 mm were performed into the lateral femoral condyles of New Zealand rabbits, treated with a single or three doses of HA. The animals were sacrifie...

Hyaline cartilage is a vascular and neural tissue with scanty chondrocytes and limited regenerative ability. After some serious injuries of the cartilage, healing process will take place through the formation of fibrocartilage structures. Currently, tissue engineering and cell therapy are 2 interesting therapeutic fields dealing with regenerative medicine. In this regard, tissue&...

In adult healthy cartilage, chondrocytes are in a quiescent phase characterized by a fine balance between anabolic and catabolic activities. In ageing, degenerative joint diseases and traumatic injuries of cartilage, a loss of homeostatic conditions and an up-regulation of catabolic pathways occur. Since cartilage differentiation and maintenance of homeostasis are finely tuned by a complex netw...