Repair of damaged cartilage. Free Technical Library News

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Repair of damaged cartilage

21.10.2013

Researchers at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Switzerland) have developed a material that can be used for controlled release of a substance when subjected to cyclic mechanical loading. This material is expected to be useful in the treatment of specific tissues such as cartilage.

The knee cartilage, in order to recover, must be under mechanical stress, similar to what happens when we walk and our weight is placed on our knees. With this exposure, chondrocytes - cartilage tissue cells - produce receptors that are susceptible to growth stimulants produced by the body. It is at this point that chondrocytes are most susceptible to drugs.

Researchers from Switzerland have taken this natural process as a basis and developed a smart material that releases a substance only under mechanical stress. The material consists of a hydrogel, liposome nanoparticles (closed bubbles formed in mixtures of phospholipids and water) and an active substance (in the experiment it is a dye).

When exposed to cyclic mechanical loads, the hydrogel matrix heats up. After that, the diameter of the liposomes expands, which in turn frees up space in the matrix, increases its permeability and facilitates the release of the dye.

During the development phase, the researchers encountered a number of problems. For example, it turned out that it is not so easy to develop nanoparticles that meet the specifications - in particular, during the heating process, they must respond to a small temperature difference. In addition, it was important to prove that mechanical loading causes heating and release of the dye. In the course of a series of experiments, scientists came to the conclusion that for the successful operation of the method, it is necessary that all three of the above components work clearly.

At the same time, scientists say that although their experiments were successful, large-scale cartilage treatment is still far away - it is necessary to refine the hydrogel and nanoparticles so that they become completely biodegradable and safe.

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