title: The tissue engineering of articular cartilage: cells, scaffolds and stimulating factors.
abstract: Damage or loss of articular cartilage as a consequence of congenital anomaly, degenerative joint disease or injury leads to progressive debilitation, which has a negative impact on the quality of life of affected individuals in all age groups. Classical surgical techniques for hyaline cartilage reparation are frequently insufficient and in many cases it is not possible to obtain the expected results. For this reason, researchers and surgeons are forced to find a method to induce complete cartilage repair. Recently, the advent of tissue engineering has provided alternative possibilities for the treatment of these patients by application of cell-based therapy (e.g. chondrocytes and adult stem cells) combined with synthetic substitutes of the extracellular matrix and bioactive factors to prepare functional replacement of hyaline cartilage. This communication is aimed at a brief review of the current status of cartilage tissue engineering and recent advances in the field.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Biology, Genetics and Clinical Genetics, University in Bratislava, Sasinkova 4, 811 08 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. lubos.danisovic@fmed.uniba.sk
authors.forename: L'ubos
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Danisovic
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.forename: Radoslav
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zamborsky
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Böhmer
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D007596:Joints / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins