Abstract
The repair and regeneration of articular cartilage represent important challenges for orthopedic investigators and surgeons worldwide due to its avascular, aneural structure, cellular arrangement, and dense extracellular structure. Although abundant efforts have been paid to provide tissue-engineered grafts, the use of therapeutically cell-based options for repairing cartilage remains unsolved in the clinic. Merging a clinical perspective with recent progress in nanotechnology can be helpful for developing efficient cartilage replacements. Nanomaterials, < 100 nm structural elements, can control different properties of materials by collecting them at nanometric sizes. The integration of nanomaterials holds promise in developing scaffolds that better simulate the extracellular matrix (ECM) environment of cartilage to enhance the interaction of scaffold with the cells and improve the functionality of the engineered-tissue construct. This technology not only can be used for the healing of focal defects but can also be used for extensive osteoarthritic degenerative alterations in the joint. In this review paper, we will emphasize the recent investigations of articular cartilage repair/regeneration via biomaterials. Also, the application of novel technologies and materials is discussed.
Highlights
Cartilage is an important tissue that exists in animal and human bodies but despite other tissues, it does have no nerves, blood vessels or lymphatics [1]
Agarose is a linear polysaccharide of restating units of l- and d-galactose, which has been commonly utilized as a matrix in cartilage tissue engineering
Awad et al demonstrated the production of proteoglycan, hydroxyproline, and sulfated GAG in differentiated adipose-derived adult stem cells to the chondrocytes, in the presence of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFβ-1), which were seeded in alginate hydrogels and agarose [76]
Summary
Cartilage is an important tissue that exists in animal and human bodies but despite other tissues, it does have no nerves, blood vessels or lymphatics [1]. Cell therapies, scaffold-free strategies and hydrogels have been reported to be promising approaches to overcome the large cartilage defects [7,8,9]. Replacement is a kind of healing process whereby severely damaged or non-regenerable tissues are repaired by the laying down of connective tissue. Particulate nanomaterials can be combined with biomaterials which can stimulate the native cartilage’s extracellular microenvironment. This in turn increases the cells interaction with the fabricated scaffold to progress the utility of the subsequent engineered construct [16]. Biomaterial tools, genetic manipulations, and cell sources have extensively grown in the last two decades, having a positive effect on the expansion of truly functional engineered-tissue [17]. The application of embryonic stem cell (ES)-derived progenitors and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to construct cartilaginous tissues seems to be the newest strategies [20]
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