Application of mesenchymal stem cells in articular cartilage tissue engineering / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:The development of tissue engineering techniques provides new methods and ideas for the repair and functional reconstruction of articular cartilage defects. OBJECTIVE:To summarize the research progress in the application of mesenchymal stem cel s, as seed cel s, in articular cartilage tissue engineering. METHODS:A computer-based retrieval was performed to search articles describing articular cartilage tissue engineering and mesenchymal stem cel s published between January 1st, 2000 and September 30th, 2014 in PubMed database with the key words of“articular cartilage defects;cartilage tissue engineering;mesenchymal stem cel s”in English. Seventy articles were retrieved initial y, and only 49 were included in further analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The ability of the articular cartilage for defect self-repair is limited, and current clinical treatments cannot be satisfactory. Development of tissue engineering provides a new idea for problem-solving. In the selection of seed cel s, chondrocyte is limited to dedifferentiate, and embryonic stem cel is restricted by ethical, legal and other aspects. Autologous mesenchymal stem cel s, which are easy to be amplified and exhibit excel ent cartilage differentiation potential, have gained widespread attention. But there is stil some controversy on the current application of tissue engineering techniques for repair of articular cartilage defects, including a certain gap between the long-term effects and the clinical applications. So the effect of mesenchymal stem cel s on biological structure and mechanical function stil needs further studies.