Chondrogenesis

This intricate and tightly regulated cellular differentiation pathway plays a crucial role in skeletal development, as cartilage serves as a fundamental component of the embryonic skeleton.

This temporary cartilage is gradually replaced by bone (endochondral ossification), a process that ends at puberty.

], surgeons and scientists have elaborated a series of cartilage repair procedures that help to postpone the need for joint replacement.

[citation needed] In a 1994 trial, Swedish doctors repaired damaged knee joints by implanting cells cultured from the patient's own cartilage.

These sheathes ensure that the brushes are lubricated as they rub past each other, even when firmly pressed together to mimic the pressures at bone joints.

Most conventionally prepared hydrogels - materials that are 80 to 90 percent water held in a polymer network - easily break apart like a gelatin.

The Japanese team serendipitously discovered that the addition of a second polymer to the gel made them so tough that they rivaled cartilage - tissue which can withstand the abuse of hundreds of pounds of pressure.

[5] Bone morphogenetic proteins are growth factors released during embryonic development to induce condensation and determination of cells, during chondrogenesis.

[6] Noggin, a developmental protein, inhibits chondrogenesis by preventing condensation and differentiation of mesenchymal cells.