Nanotechnology in orthopaedics.
Nanotechnology for meniscal repair is still in its infancy, but the initial data appear promising, and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds formed by electrospinning failed to achieve mechanical equivalence with fibrochondrocyte controls.
Abstract
Nanotechnology provides a multitude of novel tools for applications in orthopaedics, including the meniscus, osteochondral defects, osseointegration of materials, vertebral disk regeneration and repair, and targeted drug delivery. Meniscus The high incidence of meniscal injuries, coupled with the structure’s limited healing capacity, has created a demand for the use of tissueengineered biomaterials in meniscal repair and replacement. Baker et al 1 showed that aligned nanofibrous scaffolds formed by electrospinning contain the microstructural features and nanolength scales of native extracellular matrix components and provide a substrate conducive to mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) expression of fibrous chondrogenic markers. Nonetheless, these constructs ultimately failed to achieve mechanical equivalence with fibrochondrocyte controls. However, when a similar MSC-laden scaffold based on poly(e-caprolactone) was coupled with cyclic, physiologic tensile loading, 2 increased fibrocartilage gene expression, collagen deposition, and tensile modulus resulted. Nanotechnology for meniscal repair is still in its infancy, but the initial data appear promising.