Synthesis of Natural Joint

Bone was made outside the body, so also flesh. Now it is joint. If, it finally comes to the clinicians, it will be a boon.

clipped from timesofindia.indiatimes.com A natural replacement for worn-out joint PARIS: Scientists have shown for the first time that it may be possible to replace a human hip or knee with a joint grown naturally inside the body using the patient's stem cells. In experiments on rabbits, the researchers coaxed the animals' stem cells to rebuild the bone and cartilage of a missing leg joint, according to a study published on Thursday. "This is the first time an entire joint surface was regenerated with return of functions including weight-bearing and locomotion," lead researcher Jeremy Mao, a professor at Columbia University Medical Center, said. In the experiments, Mao and colleagues removed the forelimb thigh joint of 10 rabbits, and then implanted a kind of scaffolding made of biologically compatible materials. The fact that the regenerated limb joint was created from the stem cells in the host animal — rather than being harvested and then cultivated outside the body — is also unprecedented, they said.