Mesenchymal stem cell-based tissue engineering for chondrogenesis

Abstract

In tissue engineering fields, recent interest has been focused on stem cell therapy to replace or repair damaged or worn-out tissues due to congenital abnormalities, disease, or injury. In particular, the repair of articular cartilage degeneration by stem cell-based tissue engineering could be of enormous therapeutic and economic benefit for an aging population. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that can induce chondrogenic differentiation would provide an appropriate cell source to repair damaged cartilage tissues; however, we must first understand the optimal environmental conditions for chondrogenic differentiation. In this review, we will focus on identifying the best combination of MSCs and functional extracellular matrices that provides the most successful chondrogenesis.

Figure 1

Tissue engineering strategy. (a) Basic principles of tissue engineering. (b) General methods of cell culture using a scaffold.

Figure 2

(a) Diagram of heparinized nanoparticles coated onto PLGA microsphere for stem cell delivery. (b) The SEM images of PLGA microspheres (upper (left) and bottom (right)) fabricated with heparin/poly(l-lysine) nanoparticles [37].

Figure 3

Schematic diagram of RGD-modified PLGA microspheres containing growth factors and dexamethasone. Using a layer-by-layer (LBL) technique, positively charged, PEI precoated PLGA microspheres coated with negatively charged RGD molecules were fabricated for hMSC delivery and regeneration of injured tissues. The combination of growth factors, DEX, and RGD was an effective scaffold for cell delivery and differentiation of embedded hMSCs [39].