GS III: Science & Technology – developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
3D-printed cartilage may help treat osteoarthritis
- Researchers have successfully generated cartilage tissue based on patient’s own stem cells using a 3D bioprinter, an advance that could lead to new treatments for osteoarthritis.
- The research team was able to influence the cells to multiply and differentiate to form chondrocytes (cartilage cells) in the printed structure.
- Cartilage cells harvested from knee-surgery patients were manipulated in the laboratory and were rejuvenated to become pluripotent stem cells – cells that have the potential to develop into other different type of stem cells.
- The stem cells were then expanded and encapsulated in a composition of nanofibrillated cellulose and printed into a structure using a 3D bioprinter.
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