title: A Review of Current Regenerative Medicine Strategies that Utilize Nanotechnology to Treat Cartilage Damage.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cartilage is an important tissue found in a variety of anatomical locations. Damage to cartilage is particularly detrimental, owing to its intrinsically poor healing capacity. Current reconstructive options for cartilage repair are limited, and alternative approaches are required. Biomaterial science and Tissue engineering are multidisciplinary areas of research that integrate biological and engineering principles for the purpose of restoring premorbid tissue function. Biomaterial science traditionally focuses on the replacement of diseased or damaged tissue with implants. Conversely, tissue engineering utilizes porous biomimetic scaffolds, containing cells and bioactive molecules, to regenerate functional tissue. However, both paradigms feature several disadvantages. Faced with the increasing clinical burden of cartilage defects, attention has shifted towards the incorporation of Nanotechnology into these areas of regenerative medicine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Searches were conducted on Pubmed using the terms "cartilage", "reconstruction", "nanotechnology", "nanomaterials", "tissue engineering" and "biomaterials". Abstracts were examined to identify articles of relevance, and further papers were obtained from the citations within.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The content of 96 articles was ultimately reviewed. The literature yielded no studies that have progressed beyondin vitroandin vivoexperimentation. Several limitations to the use of nanomaterials to reconstruct damaged cartilage were identified in both the tissue engineering and biomaterial fields.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nanomaterials have unique physicochemical properties that interact with biological systems in novel ways, potentially opening new avenues for the advancement of constructs used to repair cartilage. However, research into these technologies is in its infancy, and clinical translation remains elusive.
authors.affiliation: Medicine, UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, London, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Medicine, UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, London, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.affiliation: Medicine, UCL Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, London, UK; Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Butler
keywords: Arthroplasty; Biomaterials; Cartilage; Cartilage-tissue-engineering; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Osteoarthritis; Tissue-engineering