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Osteochondral Tissue Engineering: Translational Research and Turning Research into Products

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Osteochondral Tissue Engineering

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1058))

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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from AO Foundation, Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, and NSF (EFRI and AIR). Dr. Nukavarapu acknowledges funding from Bioscience Connecticut through Technology Translation Pipe-line program and University of Connecticut through SPARK technology commercialization program. Dr. Nukavarapu also acknowledges funding support from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (Award Number R01EB020640).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Victoria Spencer, Erica Illescas, Lorenzo Maltes, Hyun Kim & Syam Nukavarapu

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut Health, Storrs, CT, USA

    Vinayak Sathe & Syam Nukavarapu

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Syam Nukavarapu

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  1. Victoria Spencer
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  2. Erica Illescas
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  3. Lorenzo Maltes
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  4. Hyun Kim
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  5. Vinayak Sathe
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  6. Syam Nukavarapu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Syam Nukavarapu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 3B’s Research Group – Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Barco, Guimarães, Portugal

    J. Miguel Oliveira

  2. 3B’s Research Group – Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Barco, Guimarães, Portugal

    Sandra Pina

  3. 3B’s Research Group – Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Barco, Guimarães, Portugal

    Rui L. Reis

  4. Polymeric Nanomaterials and Biomaterials Department, Institute of Polymer Science and Technology, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Madrid, Spain

    Julio San Roman

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Spencer, V., Illescas, E., Maltes, L., Kim, H., Sathe, V., Nukavarapu, S. (2018). Osteochondral Tissue Engineering: Translational Research and Turning Research into Products. In: Oliveira, J., Pina, S., Reis, R., San Roman, J. (eds) Osteochondral Tissue Engineering. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1058. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76711-6_17

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