Altered chondrocyte differentiation, including development of chondrocyte hypertrophy, mediates osteoarthritis and pathologic articular cartilage matrix calcification. Similar changes in endochondral chondrocyte differentiation are essential for physiologic growth plate mineralization. In both articular and growth plate cartilages, chondrocyte hypertrophy is associated with up-regulated express...

Loss of hyaline chondrocyte phenotype during the monolayer culture in vitro is a major obstacle for cell-based articular cartilage repair. Increasing evidence implicates an important role of the epigenetic regulation in maintaining the chondrocyte phenotype. DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNAs have all been shown to contribute to chondrocyte dedifferentiation and hypertrophy. M...

Background: Integrin-associated protein (IAP) /CD47, a member of immunoglobulin super family (IgSF), is expressed in a variety of cell types. In the present work, the expression pattern of IAP/ CD47 in normal and osteoarthritis (OA) human articular cartilage and its role in mechanotransduction pathway following mechanical stimulation have been studied. Methods: Using immunohistochemistry and st...

PURPOSE Some controversy exists regarding the effects of radiofrequency (RF) probes on articular cartilage. To further elucidate these effects, we examined the chondrocyte viability and metabolic activity after treatment of fresh bovine articular cartilage with bipolar RF probes. TYPE OF STUDY In vitro assessment. METHODS Three fresh bovine knees served as a baseline control for chondrocyte...

Osteoarthritis (OA), the disease characterized by joint pain and loss of joint form and function due to articular cartilage degeneration, is not an inevitable consequence of aging, but a strong association exists between age and increasing evidence of OA. Aging changes in articular cartilage that increase the risk of articular cartilage degeneration include fibrillation of the articular surface...

Th e disability burden and prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) in both developed and developing countries is increasing due to an aging population. OA is a degenerative joint disease that is characterized by cartilage degradation and osteophyte formation. It involves multiple components of the joint, including the synovial joint lining, peri-articular bone and adjacent supporting connective tissu...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of hyaluronic acid supplementation on chondrocyte metabolism in vitro. The clinical benefits of intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections are thought to occur through improved joint lubrication. Recent findings have shown that exogenous hyaluronic acid is incorporated into articular cartilage where it may have a direct biological effect on c...

In an attempt to repair articular cartilage, allograft articular chondrocytes embedded in collagen gel, were transplanted into full-thickness defects in rabbit articular cartilage. Twenty-four weeks after the transplantation, the defects were filled with hyaline cartilage, specifically synthesising Type II collagen. These chondrocytes were autoradiographically proven to have originated from the...

Objective(s) Articular cartilage tissue defects cannot be repaired by the proliferation of resident chondrocytes. Autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT) is a relatively new therapeutic approach to cover full thickness articular cartilage defects by in vitro grown chondrocytes from the joint of a patient. Therefore, we investigated the redifferentiation capability of human chondrocytes ma...

The effect of using vitrified-thawed chondrocyte sheets on articular cartilage repair was examined because the methods for storing chondrocyte sheets are essential for allogeneic chondrocyte sheet transplantation. Six Japanese white rabbits were used as sources of articular chondrocytes and synovial cells. Chondrocytes were harvested from the femur, and synovial cells were harvested from inside...