Mesenchymal stem cells as a potent cell source for articular cartilage regeneration

作     者：Mohamadreza Baghaban Eslaminejad Elham Malakooty Poor 

作者机构：Department of Stem CellsDevelopmental Biology atCell Science Research Center Royan Institute for Stem Cell Bi-ology and Technology ACECR 

出 版 物：《World Journal of Stem Cells》 (世界干细胞杂志（英文版）（电子版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第6卷第3期

页      面：344-354页

学科分类：1001[医学-基础医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 100101[医学-人体解剖与组织胚胎学] 10[医学] 

主　　题：Mesenchymal stem cells Regeneration Articular cartilage Cell therapy 

摘      要：Since articular cartilage possesses only a weak capac-ity for repair, its regeneration potential is considered one of the most important challenges for orthopedic surgeons. The treatment options, such as marrow stimulation techniques, fail to induce a repair tissue with the same functional and mechanical properties of native hyaline cartilage. Osteochondral transplantation is considered an effective treatment option but is as-sociated with some disadvantages, including donor-site morbidity, tissue supply limitation, unsuitable mechani-cal properties and thickness of the obtained tissue. Although autologous chondrocyte implantation results in reasonable repair, it requires a two-step surgical pro-cedure. Moreover, chondrocytes expanded in culture gradually undergo dedifferentiation, so lose morpho-logical features and specialized functions. In the search for alternative cells, scientists have found mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs) to be an appropriate cellular mate-rial for articular cartilage repair. These cells were origi-nally isolated from bone marrow samples and further investigations have revealed the presence of the cells in many other tissues. Furthermore, chondrogenic dif-ferentiation is an inherent property of MSCs noticedat the time of the cell discovery. MSCs are known to exhibit homing potential to the damaged site at which they differentiate into the tissue cells or secrete a wide spectrum of bioactive factors with regenerative proper-ties. Moreover, these cells possess a considerable im-munomodulatory potential that make them the general donor for therapeutic applications. All of these topics will be discussed in this review.