Biological glue for cartilage … and for corneas - medical glue under development - Materials Science - Brief Article

Science News, Dec 14, 1996 by Corinna Wu

To help damaged cartilage heal, scientists are developing implants on which cartilage cells can grow. These cellular scaffolds, however, must be held firmly in place at the site of the injury. Julia J. Hwang of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her colleagues are synthesizing a biodegradable glue that may do the job.

The glue consists of long, hybrid molecules that stick to cartilage on one end and the implant on the other. "They contain units of lactic acid, which preferentially absorb onto the [implant] surfaces," Hwang says.

The molecules also link with each other, enhancing the glue's strength. The cartilage scaffolding must be precisely cut before it is implanted because "the shape has to be a very good fit to get tight adhesion," says Anna Gutowska of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.