Articular Cartilage Regeneration With Stem Cells

What is articular cartilage?

The articular cartilage has a specialized function to resist compression. It has no blood supply, no lymphatic drainage and no nerve supply. This means that the articular cartilage's individual cells and their surrounding tissue also do not have any blood supply. Therefore, they will not be able to respond to any injury unless the underlying subchondral bone is penetrated.

Partial and full thickness injury

If there is only partial thickness injury to the articular cartilage (where the injury does not penetrate to the subchondral bone) there will be no response to the injury.

On the other hand, if there is a full thickness injury, which penetrates into the subchondral bone, the injury will trigger the bone marrow stem cells to initiate a process of cartilage repair.

Symptoms of pain, swelling and the occasional giving way of the knee joint, may suggest damage to the articular cartilage. Progressive degeneration of the articular cartilage will eventually result in the development of osteoarthritis.

These types of injuries are more likely to occur in sporting individuals. If there are areas of chondral injury, it will be detrimental to the joint and affect the performance of the individual. Multiple areas of chondral injuries may also occur such as knee instability due to an Anterior Cruciate Ligament deficient knee.

In chondral injuries to the knee joint, non-surgical treatment which includes physiotherapy and medication, do not allow healing to the cartilage defects. On the other hand, current established surgical options are not entirely satisfactory. However, there are a few existing surgical procedures which can help.