Tissue engineering of functional articular cartilage: the current status

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease characterized by pain and disability. It involves all ages and 70% of people aged >65 have some degree of osteoarthritis. Natural cartilage repair is limited because chondrocyte density and metabolism are low and cartilage has no blood supply. The results of joint-preserving treatment protocols such as debridement, mosaicplasty, perichondrium transplantation and autologous chondrocyte implantation vary largely and the average long-term result is unsatisfactory. One reason for limited clinical success is that most treatments require new cartilage to be formed at the site of a defect. However, the mechanical conditions at such sites are unfavorable for repair of the original damaged cartilage. Therefore, it is unlikely that healthy cartilage would form at these locations. The most promising method to circumvent this problem is to engineer mechanically stable cartilage ex vivo and to implant that into the damaged tissue area. This review outlines the issues related to the composition and functionality of tissue-engineered cartilage. In particular, the focus will be on the parameters cell source, signaling molecules, scaffolds and mechanical stimulation. In addition, the current status of tissue engineering of cartilage will be discussed, with the focus on extracellular matrix content, structure and its functionality.

Liposomes in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

“…Tissue regeneration depends not only on the bioactive agent itself such as growth factors (GFs), but also on the various parameters associated with its presentation, including concentration, spatio-temporal gradients, combination with other GFs and the target cell type [151][152][153][154]. Bioactive agent-loaded liposomes combined with scaffolds offer various intrinsic benefits such as: (i) effective concentration; (ii) stable concentration gradients; (iii) multiple bioactive agent delivery; and (iv) spatial patterning [27].…”

Growing Tissues in Real and Simulated Microgravity: New Methods for Tissue Engineering

“…106,107 Chondrocytes are the most obvious cell source for the tissue engineering of cartilage. 108 However, chondrocyte expansion in a monolayer causes cell dedifferentiation, characterized by decreased proteoglycan synthesis and type II collagen expression, and increased type I collagen expression. [109][110][111] Cartilage development is achieved in vitro by cultivating living cells on biodegradable polymer scaffolds.…”

Computational investigation of in situ chondrocyte deformation and actin cytoskeleton remodelling under physiological loading

“…Additionally, dynamic loading has been demonstrated to be important for the generation of stem cell-based engineered cartilage constructs [73,74]. The current approach for the design of tissue-engineered cartilage constructs is focused on parameters such as cell source, scaffolds and mechanical stimulation [75]. However, several difficulties exist with these particular strategies.…”