Advances in biomaterials for the treatment of articular cartilage defects

The management of cartilage defects is one of the most challenging problems for public and medical communities. Completely repairing damaged cartilage is a complex procedure, since articular cartilage is characterized by a poor vascularization (absence of blood vessels and nerve source), cartilage tissue has little or no capacity to repair itself. Cartilage tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are relatively novel areas of research and may hold the key to the successful treatment of cartilage diseases and disorders. Materials such as natural and synthetic biomaterials have been explored to recreate the microarchitecture of articular cartilage through multilayered biomimetic scaffolds. In this chapter, an overview is given of the natural and synthetic materials used on cartilage repair, describing the procedures to obtain these biomaterials, their chemical structure, their modifications to enhance their properties, and also their medical applications