Mesenchymal stem cells as potential source cartilage repair

[Article in Hungarian]

Dudics V, Kunstar A, Geher P, Gomor B, Hangody L, Uher F.

Budai Irgalmasrendi Korhaz, Reumatologiai Osztaly, Budapest.

Articular cartilage damaged by disease or trauma has a limited capacity for regeneration. The end stage of cartilage loss frequently leads to osteoarthritis resulting in a significantly decreased quality of life in millions of people. The surgical treatment of articular cartilage injury has always posed difficult problems for orthopedic surgeons and regarding long-term outcomes the currently available methods are unsatisfactory. The main lack of the applied methods is the appearance of the mechanically inadequate resident fibrocartilage instead of hyalin cartilage in the place of the cartilage defect. To find reliable methods for early repair of cartilage injuries seems of huge importance. Using techniques of tissue engineering, artificial cartilage fabricated in vitro has been applied for the repair and regeneration of damaged cartilage.