Stem Cell-Based Cartilage Engineering Approaches for Osteochondral Defect Regeneration and Functional Tissue Repair

Osteochondral defects offer important concerns in orthopedic medicine suitable to the restricted self-curing ability of cartilage. Stem cell-based cartilage engineering has emerged as a capable method for OC defect regeneration and functional tissue repair. Research explores the SDSCs-based cartilage engineering approaches for OC defect regeneration and functional tissue repair. Rabbit knee joints are used to separate SDSCs, which are then grown to passage 5 and added to a fibrin glue- PGA scaffold. The designed premature cartilage constructions are transplanted into rabbit femoral condyle defects following 50 days of in vitro stimulation in a growth factor-enriched environment. Research evaluated two groups: the Construct Group, where SDSC-engineered premature cartilage is implanted with Collagraft as a bone alternate, and the Empty Group, where defects are left untreated. The data is analyzed using statistical evaluation performed with SPSS software. Histological analysis showed that SDSCs effectively underwent chondrocyte differentiation, merging with native cartilage and generating collagen III and sulfated GAG. While the Empty Group generated fibrocartilage, indicating worse regeneration, the Construct Group showed uniform hyaline-like cartilage with strong collagen III and GAG expression and no detectable collagen I or macrophages at eight months after implantation. These results demonstrate the viability of using SDSC-based synthetic cartilage to heal OC defects.