Image Source: Flickr/CreativeCommons/Tony Alter

Are Scientists Growing Cartilage?

With science, it seems as though nothing is static; things that were impossible
one year are possible by the next one. As of April 10th, one more impossible
thing is being made possible by a group of scientists at the University of Basel
in Switzerland. These scientists have successfully grown human cartilage
through tissue engineering, and have given it to five elderly patients as part of
a nasal reconstruction surgery to fix defects caused from skin cancer.

Why Grow Cartilage?
Cartilage is a structural component of the body that is comparable to bone,
except that it is softer and more flexible. It is found between joints of the
bones, in the ears and nose, in the spine, and in a few other places throughout
the body. As the body ages, it begins to create less cartilage, and replaces
existing cartilage with bone. This means that once a person enters adulthood, it
is impossible for them to naturally repair cartilage damage, unlike most other


parts of the human body. In essence, deterioration of, or damage to, cartilage
after adulthood is irreversible. The ability to grow cartilage is the only known
way to heal cartilage-related injuries, making this success a significant leap in
the world of medicine.

Tissue Engineering
The cartilage grown by the Basel scientists was created through a procedure
called tissue engineering. Tissue engineering is a process that revolves around
the growth of new tissues or organs from existing cells. This procedure takes
cells from a donor or host and allows them to divide into a scaffold made from
a protein called collagen. The constructs created from cells dividing into a
collagenous mold resembles and imitates the function of the organ or tissue
they were extracted from. In the cartilage case, scientists took cells from the
nasal septum (the divide between the nostrils), and allowed them to multiply
onto collagen scaffolding in the shapes necessary to repair each patients
nostrils.

Uses for Growing Cartilage
The potential uses for tissue engineering to grow cartilage are significant in
reconstruction-based surgeries. The procedure was used in this study to repair
damages to the nose caused by non-melanoma skin cancers to great effect
the five recipients of the grown cartilage reported that their noses looked
normal, allowed them to breathe properly, and presented no side effects. After
this success, scientists have begun to focus their efforts on using tissue
engineering to grow cartilage that could heal certain injuries in the knee. For
most injuries that damage cartilage, there are often few, if any avenues of
treatment. The ability to grow cartilage could result in a satisfactory method of
treatment for such injuries.

The successful growth and application of cartilage by scientists in Switzerland
allows for enormous potential to treat injuries that were previously impossible
to heal. As scientists continue to investigate the clinical uses for cartilage
growth, the possibilities and potential for cartilage-healing medicines increase


and expand. More information about the procedure and its potential can be
read about at: http://sciendedaily.com/releases/2014/04/120410194644.htm.