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Articular Cartilage: Structural and Developmental Intricacies and Questions

  • Skeletal Development (E Schipani and E Zelzer, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Articular cartilage has obvious and fundamental roles in joint function and body movement. Much is known about its organization, extracellular matrix, and phenotypic properties of its cells, but less is known about its developmental biology. Incipient articular cartilage in late embryos and neonates is a thin tissue with scanty matrix and small cells, while adult tissue is thick and zonal and contains large cells and abundant matrix. What remains unclear is not only how incipient articular cartilage forms, but how it then grows and matures into a functional, complex, and multifaceted structure. This review focuses on recent and exciting discoveries on the developmental biology and growth of articular cartilage, frames them within the context of classic studies, and points to lingering questions and research goals. Advances in this research area will have significant relevance to basic science, and also considerable translational value to design superior cartilage repair and regeneration strategies.

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Acknowledgments

The work we originally carried out and summarized here was supported by NIH grants AR062908 and AR046000. R.S.D. is the recipient of a postdoctoral training grant (1F32AR064071) from the NIH. We express our gratitude to our several colleagues who contributed to the original studies described here, and apologize for not citing and describing the work of other relevant groups given the succinct format of this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Translational Research Program in Pediatric Orthopaedics, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3401 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Rebekah S. Decker, Eiki Koyama & Maurizio Pacifici

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  1. Rebekah S. Decker
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  2. Eiki Koyama
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  3. Maurizio Pacifici
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Correspondence to Rebekah S. Decker.

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All studies by Drs. Decker, Koyama, Pacifici involving animal and/or human subjects were performed after approval by the appropriate institutional review boards. When required, written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Skeletal Development

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Decker, R.S., Koyama, E. & Pacifici, M. Articular Cartilage: Structural and Developmental Intricacies and Questions. Curr Osteoporos Rep 13, 407–414 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-015-0290-z

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