Cartilage regeneration in adults is limited, but recent research shows promise in implanting micro-scaffolds and using hydrogels to stimulate growth. Other methods include cell extraction, growth hormones, and microfractures. Most approaches are still in animal trials, but offer hope for treating joint pain and long-term degeneration.
There is some medical controversy as to whether the human body can regrow cartilage naturally. The general consensus is that adults cannot regenerate cartilage, but it is possible that children and adolescents who are still growing do so at a slow rate. By the time the human body reaches its adult stage, the cartilage has little or no blood supply, which greatly limits the body’s ability to repair or regrow it.
Cartilage repair is showing new promise with recent medical research. The main approach involves the implantation of a micro-scaffold made of natural materials in the articular regions of the cartilage. This scaffold acts as a growth stimulant for cartilage cells and is absorbed by the body as cells replace its structure.
Similar research is underway with hydrogels engineered at the nanotechnology level, or one-billionth of a meter in size. These are bioactive materials that assemble into a fibrous matrix that joint cells can attach to and grow on. The materials used are designed to bind to growth factors as well for cartilage regeneration in the body and stem cells located in the nearby bone marrow stimulate collagen production which leads to new cartilage. Such research on the treatment of cartilage problems, while very promising, is still in animal trials and a few years away from human trials.
There are current methods of cartilage regeneration or to reduce knee pain where it is most frequent. They have limited effectiveness in some patients and excellent results in others. Most involve one of two approaches. Cartilage cells are either extracted from other locations in a patient’s body and implanted into a region of cartilage loss, or compounds such as chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine are injected into the site to relieve joint inflammation.
Cartilage surgery is another attempt at cartilage regeneration, usually referred to as arthroscopy. In this approach, cartilage is removed from an area of the knee where there is no damage, made into a paste, and injected back into the damaged region. Like glucosamine treatments, it is known to reduce pain and inflammation, but cartilage regeneration from the process is limited.
There are several other experimental methods for cartilage regeneration. One includes the use of growth hormones to stimulate cell production. It appears to be much more effective in treating ankles and elbows, with a success rate of up to 95%, than it does in treating knees, with an 86% success rate, or hips with a success rate of about 50%.
Research has also involved the approach of drilling minute holes into the bone near the cartilage, known as microfractures. This encourages blood vessel growth in the region. A hydrogel that forms a fibrous matrix is then injected back into the region and stimulates collagen production. Other mechanical approaches to stimulate cartilage regeneration include the use of carbon nanotubes, which are cylindrical tubes billionths of a meter long that could act as a strengthening agent for cartilage cellular structures as they form.
Much of the current research on cartilage regeneration is in the testing phase. Nearly every approach offers the promise of treating joint pain in everything from elbows to shoulders and knees. As the procedures are perfected, they also offer the promise of treating long-term cartilage degeneration in conditions such as osteoarthritis.
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