What is required is the erection of a temporary structure within the joint that mimics some of the basic internal architecture of cartilage. Introducing chondroblast cells into such a scaffold, as it is called, allows them to grow and divide and increase their population, and in doing so gives them time and space to rebuild their habitat, and so regrow cartilage. The neat thing about this scaffolding approach is that either the cells themselves can consume the scaffold or it can be designed to dissolve once the cells have finished building their habitat, leaving pristine cartilage within the
...more
