title: Critical review on the physical and mechanical factors involved in tissue engineering of cartilage.
abstract: Articular cartilage defects often progress to osteoarthritis, which negatively impacts quality of life for millions of people worldwide and leads to high healthcare expenditures. Tissue engineering approaches to osteoarthritis have concentrated on proliferation and differentiation of stem cells by activation and suppression of signaling pathways, and by using a variety of scaffolding techniques. Recent studies indicate a key role of environmental factors in the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to mature cartilage-producing chondrocytes. Therapeutic approaches that consider environmental regulation could optimize chondrogenesis protocols for regeneration of articular cartilage. This review focuses on the effect of scaffold structure and composition, mechanical stress and hypoxia in modulating mesenchymal stem cell fate and the current use of these environmental factors in tissue engineering research.
authors.affiliation: INDICASAT-AIP, Ciudad de Saber, Clayton, Apartado 0843-01103, Panama, Rep. de Panama.|Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh 522510, India.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gaut
authors.affiliation: Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, FL 32827, USA.
authors.forename: Kiminobu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugaya
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D020219:Chondrogenesis; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000378:metabolism; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000628:therapy; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels
keywords: articular cartilage osteoarthritis; chondrogenesis; differentiation; mesenchymal stem cells; tissue engineering