Medicosnext
Capping the ends of bones, cartilage is a rubbery layer that stops them rubbing together. With age, ‘wear and tear’ of the cartilage results in osteoarthritis, leading to knee pain in some people. New areas of development in treatment include novel drugs and implants of stem cells (immature cells that are able to develop into any cell type). One recent research also indicates that knee implants that generate a tiny electrical current could stimulate cartilage to multiply and repair itself.
A biodegradable membrane (about 0.5 mm thick),which generates electricity when compressed and stretched, has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Its structure is scaffold-like, so as to encourage cells to migrate into it. Their research involved creating holes in the knee cartilage of rabbits, and then patching them up with the experimental material.
After a month, the rabbits were made to hop around for 20 minutes every day and placed on slow-moving treadmills to exercise their legs and generate electric current. Inspection of tissue samples from the joints after two months showed that cartilage cells had migrated into the patches and that the joints appeared to be more intact. According to the researchers, if used in people, the implant material would dissolve after about two months; however, they could be improvised to last longer.
