Osteoarthritis and cartilage
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · Jan 2001
Differentiation of chondrogenic precursor cells during the regeneration of articular cartilage.
Full-thickness defects that penetrate articular cartilage are filled by fibrous, or fibrocartilaginous tissue and, to a very limited extent, also by hyaline cartilage. In rabbits, small full-thickness defects (to < or =3 mm in diameter) are capable of regenerating surfacing hyaline cartilage. However, chondrogenic differentiation does not occur in larger defects (> or =5 mm in diameter). We studied the involvement of fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) in the cartilaginous repair response in full-thickness defects of articular cartilage in vivo, and attempted to facilitate cartilaginous repair of the defects by the local administration of FGF-2. ⋯ The local administration of FGF-2 resulted in the successful resurfacing of large (5 mm in diameter) defects by hyaline cartilage. Prechondrogenic mesenchymal cells were the likely targets of FGF-2, which probably promoted the formation of cartilage by stimulating a selective expansion of chondroprogenitor cells. Thus, activation of FGF-2 signalling is critically important for the induction of cartilaginous repair response in full-thickness articular cartilage.