Autologous chondrocyte implantation in the knee using fibrin.

Autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is widely used to treat symptomatic articular cartilage injury of the knee. Fibrin ACI is a new tissue-engineering technique for the treatment of full-thickness articular cartilage defects, in which autologous chondrocytes are inserted into a three-dimensional scaffold provided by fibrin gel. The objective of this study is to document and compare mean changes in overall clinical scores at both baseline and follow-up.

Clinical and radiological results after modified distal metatarsal osteotomy for hallux valgus.

Background: The chevron osteotomy is an acceptable method for correction of mild and moderate hallux valgus, but can result in instability at the osteotomy site. The purpose of this study was to present clinical and radiological results with our modified technique of osteotomy.

Materials And Methods: We performed a modified technique of distal osteotomy of the first metatarsal on 77 feet of 46 patients with symptomatic hallux valgus; followed up for an average of 52 months.

MR imaging in a child with scurvy: a case report.

Scurvy is very rare disease in industrialized societies. Nevertheless, it still exists in higher risk groups including economically disadvantaged populations with poor nutrition, such as the elderly and chronic alcoholics. The incidence of scurvy in the pediatric population is very low.

Total knee arthroplasty without patellar resurfacing.

One hundred and eleven total knee replacements without patellar resurfacing were followed-up for a minimum of 48.8 months (range 48.8-108.

Hyaline cartilage regeneration using mixed human chondrocytes and transforming growth factor-beta1- producing chondrocytes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of cartilage regeneration when using a mixture of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1)-producing human chondrocytes (hChon-TGF-beta1) and primary human chondrocytes (hChon) ("mixed cells"), compared with either hChon-TGF-beta1 or hChon cells alone. Specifically, mixed cells or hChon cells were first injected intradermally into the backs of immune-deficient nude mice to test the feasibility of cartilage formation in vivo. Both the mixed cells and the hChon-TGF-beta1 cells alone induced cartilage formation in nude mice, whereas hChon cells alone did not.

Continuous transforming growth factor beta1 secretion by cell-mediated gene therapy maintains chondrocyte redifferentiation.

One of the most important factors in the production of cartilage is transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1). To obtain sustained release of TGF-beta1, a cell-mediated gene therapy technique was introduced. We infected chondrocytes with a retroviral vector carrying the TGF-beta1 gene.

Regeneration of hyaline articular cartilage with irradiated transforming growth factor beta1-producing fibroblasts.

The regeneration of hyaline articular cartilage by cell-mediated gene therapy using transforming growth factor beta(1) (TGF-beta(1))-producing fibroblasts (NIH 3T3-TGF-beta(1)) has been reported previously. In this study, we investigated whether TGF-beta(1)-producing fibroblasts irradiated with a lethal dose of radiation are still capable of inducing the regeneration of hyaline articular cartilage. NIH 3T3TGF-beta(1) fibroblasts were exposed to doses of 20, 40, or 80 Gy, using a irradiator, and then injected into artificially made partial defects on the femoral condyle of rabbit knee joints.

Hepatocyte growth factor upregulates thymosin beta4 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a mesenchymal-derived cytokine. It exerts in vitro a motogenic effect on various target cells, which is displayed either by cell scattering, locomotion, and migration during the wound repair process of cultured cells, or invasiveness through the extracellular matrix. Although it is known that HGF influences the motogenic effect of endothelial cells, the precise effects of HGF during angiogenesis are still poorly understood.