Growing new cartilage outside the body - Arthritis - medical research - Brief Article

Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., are excited about a new technique for repairing cartilage that could have significant advantages over the procedure now commonly used. It involves growing cartilage cells within a novel "designer" gel outside the body, then ultimately delivering the cell-seeded gel into a damaged joint.

The idea is that the tissue will grow and integrate with the normal cartilage surrounding it while the gel slowly degrades, leaving behind a functioning tissue. Although the engineered tissue has yet to be tested in animals, "it has mechanical and biochemical properties near to those of native cartilage," indicates engineering professor Alan Grodzinsky.

This breakthrough could aid people who are disabled by osteoarthritis, a disease that destroys the tissues cushioning joints, as well as those with cartilage that has been damaged through sports-related injuries and other accidents.

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