Chondrogenesis from mesenchymal stem cells

Injuries to the articular cartilage are significant clinical problems due to cartilage's limited ability to regenerate itself. Despite the progress that's been made in orthopedic surgery and developing chondrocyte transplantation treatments and also in early tissue-engineering, cartilage regeneration using a biological approach still remains a great challenge. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent cells that have the ability to differentiate into mesenchyme-derived cells, including chondrocytes. This review discusses the complexity and entailed challenges when using MSCs from various sources for clinical applications and the necessity to optimize chondrogenesis by repressing hypertrophy to obtain functional, suitable cells for repairing cartilage.