Bioinspired Bottlebrush Polymers Effectively Alleviate Frictional Damage Both In Vitro and In Vivo.

Bottlebrush polymers (BB) have emerged as compelling candidates for biosystems to face tribological challenges, including friction and wear. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of an engineered triblock BB polymer's affinity, cell toxicity, lubrication, and wear protection in both in vitro and in vivo settings, focusing on applications for conditions like osteoarthritis and dry eye syndrome. Results show that the designed polymer rapidly adheres to various surfaces (e.

Matrix from urine stem cells boosts tissue-specific stem cell mediated functional cartilage reconstruction.

Articular cartilage has a limited capacity to self-heal once damaged. Tissue-specific stem cells are a solution for cartilage regeneration; however, expansion resulting in cell senescence remains a challenge as a large quantity of high-quality tissue-specific stem cells are needed for cartilage regeneration. Our previous report demonstrated that decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) deposited by human synovium-derived stem cells (SDSCs), adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), urine-derived stem cells (UDSCs), or dermal fibroblasts (DFs) provided an solution to rejuvenate human SDSCs in proliferation and chondrogenic potential, particularly for dECM deposited by UDSCs.

In vivo biochemical assessment of cartilage with gagCEST MRI: Correlation with cartilage properties.

To assess articular cartilage in vivo, a noninvasive measurement is proposed to evaluate damage of the cartilage. It is hypothesized that glycosaminoglycan chemical exchange saturation transfer (gagCEST) can be applied as a noninvasive imaging technique as it would relate to electromechanical indentation and GAG content as measured with biochemical assays. This pilot study applies gagCEST MRI in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients to assess substantially damaged articular cartilage.

Development of an Electromechanical Grade to Assess Human Knee Articular Cartilage Quality.

Quantitative assessments of articular cartilage function are needed to aid clinical decision making. Our objectives were to develop a new electromechanical grade to assess quantitatively cartilage quality and test its reliability. Electromechanical properties were measured using a hand-held electromechanical probe on 200 human articular surfaces from cadaveric donors and osteoarthritic patients.

Bilayer Implants: Electromechanical Assessment of Regenerated Articular Cartilage in a Sheep Model.

Objective: To compare the regenerative capacity of 2 distinct bilayer implants for the restoration of osteochondral defects in a preliminary sheep model.

Methods: Critical sized osteochondral defects were treated with a novel biomimetic poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) implant (Treatment No. 2; n = 6) or a combination of Chondro-Gide and Orthoss (Treatment No.

Electromechanical probe and automated indentation maps are sensitive techniques in assessing early degenerated human articular cartilage.

Recent advances in the development of new drugs to halt or even reverse the progression of Osteoarthritis at an early-stage requires new tools to detect early degeneration of articular cartilage. We investigated the ability of an electromechanical probe and an automated indentation technique to characterize entire human articular surfaces for rapid non-destructive discrimination between early degenerated and healthy articular cartilage. Human cadaveric asymptomatic articular surfaces (four pairs of distal femurs and four pairs of tibial plateaus) were used.