ABSTRACT:
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The prevalent nature of
osteoarthritis, a cartilage degenerative disease that results in the
erosion of joint surfaces and loss of mobility, underscores the
importance of developing functional articular cartilage replacement.
Recent research efforts have focused on tissue engineering as a
promising approach for cartilage regeneration and repair. Tissue
engineering is a multidisciplinary research area that incorporates both
biological and engineering principles for the purpose of generating
new, living tissues to replace the diseased/damaged tissue and restore
tissue/organ function. This review surveys and highlights the current
concepts and recent progress in cartilage tissue engineering, and
discusses the challenges and potential of this rapidly advancing field
of biomedical research. RECENT FINDINGS: Cartilage tissue engineering
is critically dependent on selection of appropriate cells
(differentiated or progenitor cells); fabrication and utilization of
biocompatible and mechanically suitable scaffolds for cell delivery;
stimulation with chondrogenically bioactive molecules introduced in the
form of recombinant proteins or via gene transfer; and application of
dynamic, mechanical loading regimens for conditioning of the engineered
tissue constructs, including the design of specialized biomechanically
active bioreactors. SUMMARY: Cell selection, scaffold design and
biological stimulation remain the challenges of function tissue
engineering. Successful regeneration or replacement of damaged or
diseased cartilage will depend on future advances in our understanding
of the biology of cartilage and stem cells and technological
development in engineering (1 Kou et al.)
PMID: 16344621 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]