Background:

Articular cartilage covers the end of all diarthroidal joints, allowing the bones to slide against each other without actually coming into contact with each other. Due to the lack of vascularity above the subchondral region, healing of damaged cartilage is very rare. Thus, the body generally cannot heal the articular cartilage on its own and the eventual degradation of the tissue leads to painful osteoarthritis and limited movement.

Current treatments for osteoarthritis include joint replacement, microfracturing to release mesenchymal stem cells, autograft procedures such as mosaicplasty or osteochondral autografts that require a donor site and additionally surgery, autologous chondrocyte implantation under the periosteal flap, and scaffold implantation. Unfortunately, although there are numerous treatments, none have been marked as a gold standard due to each one having its own drawbacks, especially when it comes to reproducing the exact physiological structure of articular cartilage capable of integrating with the surrounding tissue and bone.

Summary:

The present invention includes osteochondral scaffold for regeneration of cartilage and the adjoining bone, and a method of making same. The osteochondral scaffold includes a cylindrical outer shell including a plurality of microspheres sintered together as a unitary structure having a first hollow end and a second hollow end opposite said first hollow end. The osteochondral scaffold also includes a first spiral scaffold (a chondrogenic scaffold) having a plurality of nanofibers substantially aligned with each other. The nanofibers of the first spiral scaffold include components, such as the glycosaminoglycans chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid to promote attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into chondrocytes. Further, the osteochondral scaffold also includes a second spiral scaffold (an osteogenic scaffold) having a plurality of nanofibers substantially aligned with each other. The nanofibers of the second spiral scaffold include components, such as hydroxyapatite, β-glycerophosphate, and/or β-tricalcium phosphate (βTCP) to promote attachment, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts, but in different proportions than in the first spiral scaffold. The first spiral scaffold resides in the first hollow end of the outer shell, and the second spiral scaffold resides in the second hollow end of the outer shell.

Full Patent: Fabrication Of Biphasic Osteochonral Scaffold And Reconstruction Of Articular Cartilage

Image Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214031X18301700