RESEARCH ARTICLE


Tissue Engineering for the Meniscus: A Review of the Literature



Bethan Tucker, Wasim Khan, Mamun Al-Rashid , Hesham Al-Khateeb*
University College London Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LP, UK


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Creative Commons License
© Tucker et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the University College London Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Sciences, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LP, UK; Tel: 00447906261414; Fax: 00442073945333; E-mail: drheshamalkhateeb@msn.com


Abstract

The menisci disperse the load at the knee joint. Removal of the menisci can lead to osteoarthritis due to the higher load placed on the underlying cartilage. If they become injured it is therefore important to replace or regenerate the meniscus to prevent the progression of osteoarthritis. Many materials have been trialled to find a scaffold that can withstand the stresses and strains across the joint without causing any adverse effects. This review looks at these materials further to clarify the current position of tissue engineering for the meniscus and to highlight the areas where further research is needed. A scaffold which can produce high quality in vivo results in everyone has not yet been found.

Keywords: Meniscus, scaffold, regeneration, engineering.