New Bioactive Gel Injected into Your Knee May Treat Injuries

Imagine injecting gel into your knee that may completely treat your injured joint. That may be the future for a certain material that's been recently created by scientists. They've developed a gel that may be able to repair cartilage and prevent osteoarthritis.

"We are creating an [injectable, bioactive] hydrogel that can repair cartilage damage, regenerate stronger cartilage, and hopefully delay or eliminate the development of osteoarthritis and eliminate the need for total knee replacement," said Yin Yu, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The researchers had previously identified precursor cells within normal cartilage that can mature into new cartilage tissue. This, in particular was surprising since the long-held assumption was that cartilage is one of the few tissues in the body that can't repair itself. The researchers also found molecular signaling factors that attract these precursor cells, known as chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPC), into the damaged area and cause them to develop into new, normal cartilage.

This new gel actually uses this fact to attract the precursor cells. The scientists found that a subsequent application of a growth factor caused the cells to mature into normal cartilage that repaired the injury.

"This process gives us a great result," said Yu. "The new cartilage integrates seamlessly with the undamaged tissue, it has normal concentrations of proteoglycans, good structural properties, and looks like normal cartilage."

The new tissue isn't as mechanically strong as normal cartilage, but it is certainly a step forward. In addition, the researchers believe that stress exerted during physical therapy and exercise might improve the mechanical properties.

"There's really no cure for osteoarthritis except for total joint replacement, which is not particularly suitable for younger patients because the artificial joints wear out and need to be replaced multiple times," said James Martin, one of the researchers. "Our approach aims to leverage the body's own capacity for repair, and what we've shown is that cartilage does have regenerative potential; you just have to manipulate it just right."

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