Osteoarthritis as an organ disease: from the cradle to the graveApproaches to mimic the complexity of the skeletal mesenchymal stem/stromal cell niche in vitro.

Osteoarthritis as an organ disease: from the cradle to the graveApproaches to mimic the complexity of the skeletal mesenchymal stem/stromal cell niche in vitro. Eur Cell Mater. 2019 02 11;37:88-112 Authors: Pereira AR, Trivanović D, Herrmann M Abstract Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are an essential element of most modern tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches due to their multipotency and immunoregulatory functions. Despite the prospective value of MSCs for the clinics, the stem cells community is questioning their developmental origin, in vivo localization, identification, and regenerative potential after several years of far-reaching research in the field. Although several major progresses have been made in mimicking the complexity of the MSC niche in vitro, there is need for comprehensive studies of fundamental mechanisms triggered by microenvironmental cues before moving to regenerative medicine cell therapy applications. The present comprehensive review extensively discusses the microenvironmental cues that influence MSC phenotype and function in health and disease - including cellular, chemical and physical interactions. The most recent and relevant illustrative examples of novel bioengineering approaches to mimic biological, chemical, and mechanical microenvironmental signals present in the native MSC niche are summarized, with special emphasis on the forefront techniques to achieve bio-chemical compl...
Source: European Cells and Materials - Category: Cytology Tags: Eur Cell Mater Source Type: research