Cartilage Tissue Engineering

Cartilage injuries in children and adolescents are increasingly observed, with roughly 20% of knee injuries in adolescents requiring surgery. In the US alone, costs of osteoarthritis (OA) are in excess of $65 billion per year (both medical costs and lost wages). Comorbidities are common with OA and are also costly to manage. Articular cartilage's low friction and high capacity to bear load makes it critical in the movement of one bone against another, and its lack of a sustained natural healing response has necessitated a plethora of therapies. Tissue engineering is an emerging technology at the threshold of translation to clinical use. Replacement cartilage can be constructed in the laboratory to recapitulate the functional requirements of native tissues. This book outlines the biomechanical and biochemical characteristics of articular cartilage in both normal and pathological states, through development and aging. It also provides a historical perspective of past and current cartilage treatments and previous tissue engineering efforts. Methods and standards for evaluating the function of engineered tissues are discussed, and current cartilage products are presented with an analysis on the United States Food and Drug Administration regulatory pathways that products must follow to market. This book was written to serve as a reference for researchers seeking to learn about articular cartilage, for undergraduate and graduate level courses, and as a compendium of articular cartilage tissue engineering design criteria. Table of Contents: Hyaline Articular Cartilage / Cartilage Aging and Pathology / In Vitro / Bioreactors / Future Directions

Osteochondral defects can be challenging to treat, first, because the damaged articular cartilage has a poor intrinsic reparative capability, and second, because these defects cause chronic pain and serious disability. That is why cartilage repair remains one of the most challenging issues of musculoskeletal medicine. Arthroscopic and open techniques that have been developed over the last two decades intend to promote the success of complete repair of the articular cartilage defects; nevertheless, these therapies cannot always offer 100% success. Nowadays, cartilage tissue engineering is an emerging technique for the regeneration of cartilage tissue. Taking into consideration these perspectives, this book aims to present a summary of cartilage tissue engineering, including development, recent progress, and major steps taken toward the regeneration of functional cartilage tissue. Special emphasis is placed on the role of stimulating factors, including growth factors, gene therapies, as well as scaffolds, including natural, synthetic, and nanostructured.

This detailed book brings together a collection of methodologies, from the most basic to the more complex, that provides researchers with a platform they can use to embark on a cartilage research career. To aid in the search for novel therapies for cartilage regeneration, this volume addresses 3D cartilage models, challenges associated with RNA and protein extraction, imaging, gene transfer, as well as stable differentiation and variations in cell phenotype from different tissue origins. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and up-to-date, Cartilage Tissue Engineering serves as an ideal guide for researchers working to advance the vital study of cartilage biology and repair.

Tissue engineering takes advantages of the combined use of cultured living cells and three-dimensional scaffolds to reconstruct adult tissues that are absent or malfunctioning. This book brings together scientists and clinicians working on a variety of approaches for regenerating of damaged or lost cartilage and bone to assess the progress of this dynamic field. In its early days, tissue engineering was driven by material scientists who designed novel bio-resorbable scaffolds on which to seed cells and grow tissues. This ground-breaking work generated high expectations, but there have been significant stumbling blocks holding back the widespread use of these techniques in the clinic. These challenges, and potential ways of overcoming them, are given thorough coverage in the discussions that follow each chapter. The key questions addressed in this book include the following. How good must cartilage repair be for it to be worthwhile? What is the best source of cells for tissue engineering of both bone and cartilage? Which are the most effective cell scaffolds? What are the best preclinical models for these technologies? And when it comes to clinical trials, what sort of outcome measures should be used? With contributions from some of the leading experts in this field, this timely publication will prove essential reading for anyone with an interest in the field of tissue engineering.

This book focuses on cartilage defects and new mesenchymal stem cell-based treatments for their repair and regeneration. Early chapters provide a review of current etiological findings and repair methods of cartilage defects. The next chapters discuss fundamental concepts and features of MSCs, including their proliferation, differentiation, migration and immunomodulatory effects. The discussion also includes clinical applications of MSCs in cartilage tissues, especially with regards to various animal models, biomaterials and transferring techniques. Cartilage Regeneration focuses on the biology of MSCs and their possible applications in cartilage reconstruction, with the goal of bringing new insights into regenerative medicine. It will be essential reading for researchers and clinicians in stem cells, regenerative medicine, biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery.

A comprehensive overview of the latest achievements, trends, and the current state of the art of this important and rapidly expanding field. Clearly and logically structured, the first part of the book explores the fundamentals of tissue engineering, providing a separate chapter on each of the basic topics, including biomaterials stem cells, biosensors and bioreactors. The second part then follows a more applied approach, discussing various applications of tissue engineering, such as the replacement or repairing of skins, cartilages, livers and blood vessels, to trachea, lungs and cardiac tissues, to musculoskeletal tissue engineering used for bones and ligaments as well as pancreas, kidney and neural tissue engineering for the brain. The book concludes with a look at future technological advances. An invaluable reading for entrants to the field in biomedical engineering as well as expert researchers and developers in industry.

Reviewing exhaustively the current state of the art of tissue engineering strategies for regenerating bones and joints through the use of biomaterials, growth factors and stem cells, along with an investigation of the interactions between biomaterials, bone cells, growth factors and added stem cells and how together skeletal tissues can be optimised, this book serves to highlight the importance of biomaterials composition, surface topography, architectural and mechanical properties in providing support for tissue regeneration. Maximizing reader insights into the importance of the interplay of these attributes with bone cells (osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteoclasts) and cartilage cells (chondrocytes), this book also provides a detailed reference as to how key signalling pathways are activated. The contribution of growth factors to drive tissue regeneration and stem cell recruitment is discussed along with a review the potential and challenges of adult or embryonic mesenchymal stem cells to further enhance the formation of new bone and cartilage tissues. This book serves to demonstrate the interconnectedness of biomaterials, bone/cartilage cells, growth factors and stem cells in determining the regenerative process and thus the clinical outcome.

This volume aims to describe clearly and in detail the key practical skills involved in cartilage tissue engineering. Methods are outlined for isolation and expansion of chondrocytes and stem cells; differentiation; synthesis and application of three-dimensional scaffolds; design and operation of bioreactors; in vivo testing of engineered constructs; and molecular and functional analysis of cartilage cells and tissues.