In the last few years, a number of methods have been developed
to repair cartilage damage. These include osteochondral
transplantation, microfracture surgery and autologous
chondrocyte (cartilage cell) implantation. A feature common to
all of these techniques is that they are limited to the repair
of focal lesions. Patients with OA are excluded from treatment.
OA cartilage lesions are usually larger and unconfined and so do
not provide an appropriate environment for chondrocytes to be
retained long enough to build a framework (matrix).
So...successful repair of OA cartilage damage is dependent on
the ability to form a matrix within the joint. Effective
cartilage engineering protocols have already been developed in
which chondrocytes in young animal models have been shown to be
effective in creating cartilage. Generating cartilage using
adult human cartilage cells is far more challenging. Older OA
patients have cartilage that is less responsive to stem cell
stimulation and their stem cells seem to respond less