title: Articular Cartilage: Structural and Developmental Intricacies and Questions.
abstract: Articular cartilage has obvious and fundamental roles in joint function and body movement. Much is known about its organization, extracellular matrix, and phenotypic properties of its cells, but less is known about its developmental biology. Incipient articular cartilage in late embryos and neonates is a thin tissue with scanty matrix and small cells, while adult tissue is thick and zonal and contains large cells and abundant matrix. What remains unclear is not only how incipient articular cartilage forms, but how it then grows and matures into a functional, complex, and multifaceted structure. This review focuses on recent and exciting discoveries on the developmental biology and growth of articular cartilage, frames them within the context of classic studies, and points to lingering questions and research goals. Advances in this research area will have significant relevance to basic science, and also considerable translational value to design superior cartilage repair and regeneration strategies.
authors.affiliation: Translational Research Program in Pediatric Orthopaedics, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. DeckerR@chop.edu.
authors.forename: Rebekah S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.affiliation: Translational Research Program in Pediatric Orthopaedics, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Eiki
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.affiliation: Translational Research Program in Pediatric Orthopaedics, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pacifici
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development; D019070:Cell Lineage; D019902:Chondrocytes; D005109:Extracellular Matrix; D048091:Guided Tissue Regeneration; D006801:Humans
keywords: Articular cartilage; Extracellular matrix; Joint disease; Joint formation; Lineage tracing; Progenitor cells