New Cartilage for Knee Pain (written by Biloine Young @ OTW)
In a process not unlike the race to map the human genome, researchers are competing to coax chondrocytes into creating cartilage—the connective tissue in joints that helps to distribute weight and allows bones to slide past one another without causing pain.
Age brings damages to cartilage as does obesity and injuries. Unfortunately, unlike muscle, cartilage has no blood supply, which makes healing difficult.
Researchers can already grow chondrocytes in the lab, but coaxing them to make high-quality connective tissue is the hard part. At the University of Pennsylvania, Professors Jason Burdick and Robert Mauck have been growing cartilage in the lab. Burdick says the team has made a breakthrough by culturing cells in conditions that mimic the body's environment.
The team grows chondrocytes from bone-marrow-derived adult stem cells, embedded in a gel of hyaluronic acid—a growth-promoting molecule in natural cartilage. Next, these gels are compressed by tiny metal pistons that Mauck has developed. These enhance tissue development by simulating physical activity.
Mauck says the team can now make cartilage that is almost as goo...
