Mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage repair in osteoarthritis.

ABSTRACT: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of the connective tissue and progresses with age in the older population or develops in young athletes following sports-related injury. The articular cartilage is especially vulnerable to damage and has poor potential for regeneration because of the absence of vasculature within the tissue. Normal load-bearing capacity and biomechanical properties of thinning cartilage are severely compromised during the course of disease progression. Although surgical and pharmaceutical interventions are currently available for treating OA, restoration of normal cartilage function has been difficult to achieve. Since the tissue is composed primarily of chondrocytes distributed in a specialized extracellular matrix bed, bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), also k

SUBMITTER: Gupta PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3580463 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature