title: Emergence of chondrogenic progenitor stem cells in transplantation biology-prospects and drawbacks.
abstract: Avascular tissues such as a cartilage contains a unique type of cell called as the chondrocyte. We, however, have not understood the origin of the chondrocyte population and how this population is maintained in the normal tissue. In spite of being considered to be a simple tissue, scientist had always faced difficulties to engineer this tissue. This is because different structural regions of the articular cartilage were never understood. In addition to this, the limited self-repair potential of cartilage tissue and lack of effective therapeutic options for the treatment of damaged cartilage has remained an unsolved problem. Mesenchymal stem cell based therapy may provide a solution for cartilage regeneration. This is due to their ability to differentiate into chondrogenic lineage when appropriate conditions are provided. An ideal cell source, a three-dimensional cell culture, a suitable scaffold material that accomplishes all the necessary properties and bioactive factors in specific amounts are required to induce chondrocyte differentiation and proliferation. Cartilage tissue engineering is a promising and rapidly expanding area of research that assures cartilage regeneration. However, many unsolved questions concerning the mechanism of engraftment of chondrocytes following transplantation in vivo, biological safety after transplantation and the retention of these cells for lifetime remain to be addressed that is possible only through years of extensive research. Further studies are therefore required to estimate the long-term sustainability of these cells in the native tissue, to identify well suited delivery materials and to have a thorough understanding of the mechanism of interaction between the chondrocytes and extracellular matrix and time is not far when this cell based therapy will provide a comprehensive cure to cartilage disease.
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Research Lab, Department of Neurology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Deepali
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.forename: Winston Costa
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Akshay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anand
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002356:Cartilage / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D019070:Cell Lineage; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006657:Histones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D006657:Histones