Osteochondral defect repair: back to nature's template

Abstract

Cartilage and osteochondral defects lead to painful joints and limited mobility. These defects often occur after sports injuries and thus mostly affect the young and active population. In contrast to other human tissues, cartilage is not capable to initiate its own repair. This will inevitably lead to further degeneration of the joint. Osteochondral damage is not limited to the human population. Horses are equally affected by similar defects. Interestingly, the histological and biochemical composition of human and equine (horse) cartilage tissue show great similarities. The development of a novel treatment strategy could therefore benefit both populations. This thesis decribes the development of a natural scaffold for osteochondral defect repair. Natural cartilage tissue can be decellularized and used to create a new scaffold that can be implanted into the defect. These scaffolds have been evaluated in in vitro and in vivo settings and have shown great potential in repairing the natural tissue.