Anatomically relevant scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering
We discussed in an earlier post the application of natural polymers in clinical treatment of osteoarthritis and other injuries to articular cartilage. Those current therapies are all limited to treating small lesions or holes of only a few millimeters across. Material challenges remain when larger, curved areas of cartilage need to be regenerated in joints. Larger scaffold constructs are more difficult to evenly seed with cells, and are also prone to shrinking and changing shape as the cells grow inside…