Osteochondral Tissue Engineering: Translational Research and Turning Research into Products

Abstract

Osteochondral (OC) defect repair is a significant clinical challenge. Osteoarthritis results in articular cartilage/subchondral bone tissue degeneration and tissue loss, which in the long run results in cartilage/ostecochondral defect formation. OC defects are commonly approached with autografts and allografts, and both these options have found limitations. Alternatively, tissue engineered strategies with biodegradable scaffolds with and without cells and growth factors have been developed. In order to approach regeneration of complex tissues such as osteochondral, advanced tissue engineered grafts including biphasic, triphasic, and gradient configurations are considered. The graft design is motivated to promote cartilage and bone layer formation with an interdigitating transitional zone (i.e., bone-cartilage interface). Some of the engineered OC grafts with autologous cells have shown promise for OC defect repair and a few of them have advanced into clinical trials. This chapter presents synthetic osteochondral designs and the progress that has been made in terms of the clinical translation.

Keywords: Bench to bedside translation; Bone–cartilage interface; Engineered structures; Local microstructure control; Osteochondral tissue development.