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Review
. 2021 Oct 11:30:93-102.
doi: 10.1016/j.jot.2021.07.008. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Osteochondral tissue engineering: Perspectives for clinical application and preclinical development

Chengchong Ai  1   2 , Yee Han Dave Lee  3 , Xuan Hao Tan  1   2 , Si Heng Sharon Tan  3 , James Hoi Po Hui  3   4   5 , James Cho-Hong Goh  1   2   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Osteochondral tissue engineering: Perspectives for clinical application and preclinical development

Chengchong Ai et al. J Orthop Translat. .

Abstract

The treatment of osteochondral defects (OCD) remains challenging. Among currently available surgical treatments for OCDs, scaffold-based treatments are promising to regenerate the osteochondral unit. However, there is still no consensus regarding the clinical effectiveness of these scaffold-based therapies for OCDs. Previous reviews have described the gradient physiological characteristics of osteochondral tissue and gradient scaffold design for OCD, tissue engineering strategies, biomaterials, and fabrication technologies. However, the discussion on bridging the gap between the clinical need and preclinical research is still limited, on which we focus in the present review, providing an insight into what is currently lacking in tissue engineering methods that failed to yield satisfactory outcomes, and what is needed to further improve these techniques. Currently available surgical treatments for OCDs are firstly summarized, followed by a comprehensive review on experimental animal studies in recent 5 years on osteochondral tissue engineering. The review will then conclude with what is currently lacking in these animal studies and the recommendations that would help enlighten the community in developing more clinically relevant implants.

The translational potential of this article: This review is attempting to summarize the lessons from clinical and preclinical failures, providing an insight into what is currently lacking in TE methods that failed to yield satisfactory outcomes, and what is needed to further improve these implants.

Keywords: Animal experiment; Osteochondral regeneration; Scaffold; Subchondral bone.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Images of osteochondral autograft [32], (B-D) osteochondral scaffolds [33].
Figure 2
Figure 2
the diagram of direct and indirect crosstalk in the osteochondral unit.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Histological results of studies showing the neo-cartilage band moving up toward the surface. (A) Silicate-based monophasic scaffold [58]; (B) A monophasic scaffold composed of decellularized cartilage matrix (DCM) and functionalized self-assembly Ac-(RADA) 4 -CONH 2 /Ac-(RA-DA) 4 GGSKPPGTSS-CONH 2 (RAD/SKP) peptide nanofiber hydrogel [86]; (C) a monophasic scaffold made of icariin (Ica) conjugated hyaluronic acid/collagen (Ica-HA/Col) hydrogel [87]; (D) a multiphasic scaffold consisted of the poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and the hydroxyapatite (HA)/PCL microspheres [34].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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