인공연골의 R&D 동향분석

Abstract

Focal cartilage defects frequently occur in secondary to trauma or to the idiopathic condition such as osteochondritis dissecans. Cartilage has a limited capacity to heal and the treatment of cartilage defects remains a challenge. Moreover, although many methods have been developed to treat cartilage defect, the results are unsatisfactory. The symptomatic treatments such as medicatioin for pain control or arthroscopic debridement have been tried. Recently the newly developed treatment modality of autologous chondrocytes transplantation (ACT) showed the great progress, and ACT is now widely used for the treatment of cartilage defects. However, some problems such as the uneven distribution of grafted chondrocytes through the cartilage defects, the high risk of leakage of grafted chondrocytes and the overgrowth of regenerated cartilage have been reported. Transplantation of chondrocytes or chondroprogenitor cells with various types of scaffold has been developed to promote even cell distribution and to prevent cell leakage and these scaffolds have showed another progress in cartilage tissue engineering and even used clinically. With the change of life style, the need for treating the cartilage defects will be increased and the market of artificial cartilage will be huge. With the progress of material and cell biology, the prospect of the artificial cartilage is clear.