Biosealant therapy might help stabilise injury caused by cartilage damage: Study - Hindustan Times

"In addition to pausing cartilage breakdown, we think that applying this therapy can present a surface that is 'sticky' for cells, such as stem cells that are routinely injected into joints to counteract injury.

To that end, Mauck, study lead author Jay Patel, PhD, a former post-doctoral fellow in the McKay Lab and now an assistant professor at Emory University, and their team developed a therapy to use a modified version of hyaluronic acid - a substance naturally produced by the body's connective tissue - that could be introduced to the injured cartilage site.

In a large animal model, the researchers introduced the biogel to damaged cartilage, showing that it intertwined with the cartilage's matrix structure to stabilize the cartilage.

When living cartilage was tested in the lab, the researchers found that applying the hyaluronic acid biogel restored regular activity to chondrocytes, the cells within cartilage tissue.

To that end, the team combined the hyaluronic acid hydrogel system with an injection of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells, to promote the formation of a thin "living" barrier on the cartilage surface to protect it from further wear.