Abstract
Cartilage is frequently injured but shows little capacity for repair. Current treatment options include the use of procedures that stimulate repair through the stimulation of subchondral bone marrow and result in the formation of fibrocartilage. There is considerable interest in the use of cell-based treatment strategies and there are limited studies describing the use of mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage repair with promising early results. This paper reviews the current treatment strategies for articular cartilage, describes use of mesenchymal stem cells for articular cartilage repair along with the results of clinical studies, and describes the future direction that these strategies are likely to take.
Highlights
Hyaline articular cartilage is a highly specialized tissue
Small cartilage defects can develop into widespread osteoarthritis, a difficult problem to treat in the younger age group not suitable for fusion or joint replacement
Good results have been reported with autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) the quantity of harvested chondrocytes from non-weight bearing areas of cartilage is limited, and chondrocytes can dedifferentiate into fibroblasts when cultured in vivo
Summary
There are a number of chondroprogenitor cell pools within adult mammalian organisms that have the potential to differentiate into chondrocytes and form mature cartilage tissue. These include cells within the cambial layers of the perichondrium and periosteum, the synovial membrane, adipose tissue, muscle and the bone marrow stroma. Stem cells are defined by their capacity to remain an undifferentiated state for a prolonged period while retaining the potential to differentiate along one lineage (unipotent), multiple lineages (multipotent), or into all three germ layers (pluripotent) [7]
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