Articular cartilage injuries, often caused by trauma, have a limited potential to heal, which over time, may lead to osteoarthritis, an inflammatory and degenerative joint disease frequently associated with activity-related pain, swelling and impaired mobility. Many treatment modalities have been introduced but with limited success due to the formation of inferior fibrocartilage at the damaged ...

Introduction: Mechanical stimulation has an effective role in helping to produce more functional engineered articular cartilage tissue for focal defect repair [1]. It is hypothesized that adding direct pressurized fluid flow to the combination of compression and sliding shear acting on chondrocyteseeded hydrogel constructs can significantly increase collagen production. If so, this “hydromechan...

Osteoarthritis is a debilitating joint disease present in epidemic proportions worldwide. Osteoarthritis results from degeneration of the articular cartilage of the joint surfaces due to acute trauma, or chronic wear and tear. Due to limited ability of cartilage to repair itself, and lack of available treatments, there is an urgent need for development of approaches to repair articular cartilag...

OBJECTIVE To summarize current clinical research practice and develop methodological standards for objective scientific evaluation of knee cartilage repair procedures and products. DESIGN A comprehensive literature review was performed of high-level original studies providing information relevant for the design of clinical studies on articular cartilage repair in the knee. Analysis of cartila...

Objective: To summarize current clinical research practice and develop methodological standards for objective scientific evaluation of knee cartilage repair procedures and products. Design: A comprehensive literature review was performed of high-level original studies providing information relevant for the design of clinical studies on articular cartilage repair in the knee. Analysis of cartila...

Cartilage defects that penetrate the subchondral bone can undergo spontaneous repair through the formation of a fibrous or cartilaginous tissue mediated primarily by mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow. This tissue is biomechanically inferior to normal articular cartilage, and is often observed to degrade over time. The factors that control the type and quality of the repair tissue, and...

PURPOSE This study evaluated intra-articular injection of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to augment healing with microfracture compared with microfracture alone. METHODS Ten horses (aged 2.5 to 5 years) had 1-cm2 defects arthroscopically created on both medial femoral condyles of the stifle joint (analogous to the human knee). Defects were debrided to subchondral bone foll...

Arthritis, with osteoarthritis (OA) accounting for most of this burden, is a leading cause of disability in the western world. Symptomatic full-thickness defects of the knee joint surface require surgical treatment for symptom relief and to prevent secondary OA. Current gold standard of cell therapy for joint surface repair consists of implantation of autologous, culture-expanded articular chon...

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...