There is currently no cure for osteoarthritis, which can cause a serious breakdown of cartilage in one or more joints in the body.
There is some medical controversy over whether the human body can regenerate cartilage naturally. The general consensus is that adults cannot regrow cartilage, but children and adolescents who are still growing may do so slowly. When the human body reaches its adult stage, cartilage has little or no blood supply, greatly limiting the body’s ability to repair or regenerate it.
Although medical regeneration of cartilage is not yet possible, physical therapy can help some people manage symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Cartilage repair is showing new promise with recent medical research. The main approach is to implant a microscaffold made of natural materials into the cartilage regions of the joint. This structure acts as a stimulator for cartilage cell growth and is absorbed by the body as cells replace its structure.
Similar research is being done with hydrogels designed at the nanotechnology level or in sizes of one billionth of a meter. These are bioactive materials that are assembled into a fibrous matrix that joint cells can adhere to and grow on top of. The materials used are also designed to bind to growth factors for cartilage regeneration in the body, and stem cells located in close proximity to the bone marrow stimulate collagen production that leads to the formation of new cartilage. This research on treating cartilage problems, while very promising, is still in the animal testing phase and a few years away from human trials.
Cartilage regeneration can be helpful in treating shoulder joint pain.
There are current methods of cartilage regeneration, or to reduce knee pain, where it occurs most frequently. They have limited efficacy in some patients and very good results in others. Most involve one of two approaches. Cartilage cells are harvested from another part of the 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.
Growth hormones may be helpful in repairing damage to the cartilage in the elbows.
Cartilage surgery is another attempt at cartilage regeneration, often called arthroscopy. In this approach, cartilage is removed from an area of the knee where there is no damage, processed into a paste, and injected back into the damaged area. Like glucosamine treatments, it is known to reduce pain and inflammation, but the cartilage regeneration process is limited.
It is widely accepted that adults cannot regenerate cartilage.
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 is in treating knees, with a success rate of 86%, or hips, with a success rate of around of 50%.
The research also involved the approach of making tiny holes in the bone near the cartilage, known as microfracture. This stimulates the growth of blood vessels in the region. Then, a hydrogel that forms a fibrous matrix and stimulates collagen production is injected back into the region. Other mechanical approaches to stimulate cartilage regeneration include the use of carbon nanotubes, which are cylindrical tubes billionths of a meter long that can serve as a reinforcing agent for cartilage cell structures as they form.
Loss of cartilage in the knees can cause pain and discomfort.
Much of the current research on cartilage regeneration is in the testing phase. Almost all approaches promise to treat joint pain in everything from the elbows to the shoulders to the knees. As procedures improve, they also show promise in treating long-term cartilage degeneration in conditions such as osteoarthritis.