Articular cartilage defects are a major clinical burden worldwide. Current methods to repair bone defects include bone autografts, allografts and external fixation. In recent years, the repair of bone defects by tissue engineering has emerged as a promising approach. The present study aimed to assess a novel method using a biological reactor with platelet-rich plasma to construct tissue-enginee...

Articular cartilage lesions that do not disrupt the integrity of subchondral bone are not capable of spontaneous repair. The asymptomatic nature of these lesions leads to articular cartilage degeneration and development of the osteoarthritic process. To avoid joint replacement surgery, several cellular therapies have been developed. These therapies focus on the regeneration of a new tissue, who...

OBJECTIVE Inflammation in the bone microenvironment stimulates osteoclast differentiation, resulting in uncoupling of resorption and formation. Mechanisms contributing to the inhibition of osteoblast function in inflammatory diseases, however, have not been elucidated. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prototype of an inflammatory arthritis that results in focal loss of articular bone. The paucity...

AIM Until recently, only fibrin glue has been available for clinical usage to repair articular cartilage, although its adhesiveness is not strong enough for use with articular cartilage, and it is derived from human blood and thus carries the risk of contamination. Recently, LYDEX, a new biodegradable hydrogel glue, has come onto the market. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adhesiv...

Introduction Knee injuries are common in both the young and the athletic populations. While ligamentous and meniscal trauma constitute the majority of knee injuries, articular cartilage damage can and does occur frequently. Early detection of articular cartilage damage has dramatically improved with the advent of MRI, and focal defects as small as 1mm may now be detected(1). “Benign neglect” ha...

In tissue engineering fields, recent interest has been focused on stem cell therapy to replace or repair damaged or worn-out tissues due to congenital abnormalities, disease, or injury. In particular, the repair of articular cartilage degeneration by stem cell-based tissue engineering could be of enormous therapeutic and economic benefit for an aging population. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal ...