Treatment of osteochondral (OC) defects represents a current problem that needs to be solved. Although the present therapies are effective in reducing pain, thus improving the quality of life of these patients, the articular cartilage presents limited regeneration capacity, which demands developing new therapeutic options that enable its complete healing. However, the complexity of OC tissue represents a great challenge to beovercome when trying to launch new commercial products. Specifically, the OC matrix is organized in four interconnected structures: hyaline cartilage, a thin layer of calcified cartilage, subchondral, and cancellous bone. The usual concerns regarding new medical devices are its biocompatibility, bioactivity, biodegradation at the natural rate of the original tissue and appropriate biomechanical properties that allow to support newly formed tissue.¹ In this sense, researchers have developed numerous studies aiming to restore OC tissue, some of which had led to tissue-engineered commercial products. Biomaterials usually used in OC regeneration are composed by 3-D scaffolds (biphasic, injectable hydrogels or decellularized matrices) and intend to serve as templates for cell interactions and formation of ECM.² Herein, we present the up to date commercialized OC products that are currently being applied in the clinics, emphasizing the advantages and difficulties of each one.

References

1.            Bose, S., Roy, M. & Bandyopadhyay, A. Trends in Biotechnology 30, 546–554 (2012).

2.            Benders, K. E. M. et al. Trends in Biotechnology 31, 169–176 (2013).

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for the M-ERA-NET/0001/2014 project, and for the funds provided under the program Investigador FCT2015 (IF/01285/2015).